As the COVID-19 crisis wears on and continues to interrupt our lives, it’s easy to become discouraged and want to give up. But as a believer, you have God’s presence to lead and sustain you through your difficulties. In Part 4 of the “The Courage to Stand” series, Dr. Stanley points you to key biblical principles that can give you the boldness and courage to press on. This sermon was recorded before COVID-19. For the protection of our staff members and the community, we are currently following safety guidelines by practicing social distancing. We appreciate your understanding.

how do you respond when you find

yourself dealing with situations that

are very painful

in fact you get rejected somebody walks

out on you

you feel like they were dishonest with

you

they didn’t tell you the truth you feel

lonely

you feel hurt very discouraged

when you think about all the things that

happen to people and

the reactions we have how do you feel

you just want to say you know what i

don’t have to put up with this anymore

and you just decide i’m going to i’m

going to walk away i quit

i give up i don’t have to do this

i don’t have to stay here how do you

really and truly feel

because you see as a follower of jesus

christ

giving up it’s not who we are

surrendering is not who we are throwing

in the towel is we say

that’s not who we are as a follower of

jesus christ we have the right to expect

the best from him

he has the right to expect the best from

us

and so when i think about giving up that

just

it doesn’t fit who we are and if you’re

in the process right now

giving up on your marriage giving up on

your job

giving up on your children giving up on

your financial situation

whatever the situation may be before you

give up

you stop and ask yourself the question

does this fit

who i am as a follower of jesus and this

message is all

about listen it’s all about

keeping on keeping on and that is to

have the courage

to keep on keeping on and if you will

listen carefully

and apply these points that i’m going to

lay out before you

you don’t have to give up and quit there

is an

answer and a solution to what god wants

to do in your life at this point

no matter what it is so i want you to

turn if you will to

second timothy and this fourth chapter

and

paul is writing to the young pastor

timothy

and giving him some wonderful advice

he’s coming to the end of his life

now in fact paul

dies around 67 a.d he’s

killed by nero the emperor and it’s

interesting that the very next year

nero committed suicide and so he’s

encouraging

uh timothy at this point and beginning

in chapter 4 and verse 1

i solemnly charge you in the presence of

god and of christ jesus

who is the judge the living and the dead

and by his appearing and his kingdom

preach the word be ready to listen be

ready in season and

out of season reprove rebuke exhort

with great patience and instruction for

the time will come

when they will not endure sound doctrine

but wanting to have their ears tickled

they will accumulate for themselves

teachers in accordance to their own

desires

and will turn away their ears from the

truth and will turn to myths

but you be sober in all things

endure hardship do the work of an

evangelist fulfill your ministry

for i am already being poured out as a

drink offering

and the time of my departure has come

i have fought a good fight i’ve finished

the course

i’ve kept the faith in the future there

is later for me the crown of

righteousness which the lord the

righteous

judge will award to me on that day

and not only to me but also to all who

love his appearing

now this is his challenge to young

timothy

uh as i said he is a young pastor and

now

we find him

listening to the apostle paul give him a

warning and a challenge

and a word of encouragement that no

matter what he goes through you don’t

give up and you don’t quit

and as i think about all the characters

of the new testament for example

no one fits the qualification of a one

who never quits like the apostle paul

when you think about his life and think

about

how he lived it out here’s someone who’s

stayed with them challenge no matter

what happened

and you may be one of those persons

today who wants to quit

and you think you have a pretty good

reason to quit you have a good reason to

walk out

you may legitimately and reasonably

think well i don’t have to do this and i

don’t stay here

and i think of many pastors that i’ve

talked with over the years

who’ve said this is what’s going on in

my church and i decided

i don’t have to put up with this i don’t

have to keep doing this i don’t have to

live like this

i don’t like to have my family treated

this way i don’t i don’t have to do it

and when they ask me what i think is

sort of here’s what i tell them

yes you do you have to do what you’re

doing until god

tells you to do something else and paul

is encouraging timothy he says now look

there’s going to come a day

when they’re not going to believe what

you’re saying they want someone to

tickle their ears to make them feel good

but you stay steady steady sober calm

in the situation you keep doing what god

has called you to do

and then he talks about his own life

because of what he’s been through in

life

now when i think about what paul

suffered in life you have to ask the

question

what motivated him to keep on keeping on

when everything in him would have said

quit but there’s something

that paul knew something that he did

that every single one of us

need to understand in our life because

we’re all going to be tested

or have been tested once so many times

to just say you know what i don’t have

to put up with this i quit i give up i

walk away

now the tragedy is that many people

use that same phrase when they walk away

from their marriage from their children

or into the college education say you

know what i quit

or into some particular job they don’t

like because they think it’s a little

uh too difficult or it doesn’t suit them

quitters

they’re plenty of quitters and yet

quitters don’t get anywhere in life

people who give up don’t get anywhere in

life so i want us to look at the reasons

the motivations

that paul had to keep going when the

going

got very rough and we’ll talk about some

of those issues so

the first one i want us to notice here

is this

one of the things that kept paul from

giving up and kept him keeping on

keeping on

was the awareness that god was with him

and i think in the second uh corinthian

letter

and the 11th chapter this is a very

challenging chapter to me when i think

about

what paul went through what he suffered

and yet he never gave up

no matter what he experienced in life so

if you look at that 11th chapter for a

moment this is a familiar chapter to

most christians

but a lot of people who hear this will

not be but paul

says for example he was arguing they

were criticizing him for who he was and

he said

in verse 22 are they hebrews so am i

are they israelites so am i are they

descendants of abraham

so am i then he says are they servants

of christ

i speak as if insane i more

in far more labors and far more

imprisonments

beaten times listen without number

often in danger of death five times i

received from the

jews 39 lashes three times i was beaten

with rods

once i was stoned three times i was

shipwrecked

a night and day i have spent in the deep

i’ve been on frequent journeys and

dangers from rivers dangers from robbers

dangers from countrymen

dangers from the gentiles dangers in the

city dangers in the wilderness

dangers on the sea dangers from among

false brethren i’ve been in labor and

hardship

through many sleepless nights in hunger

and thirst

often without food and cold and exposure

apart from such external things there is

the daily pressure

on me of concern for all the churches if

you and i had been what he’d been

through

i wonder how many of us would have

survived that and so

what is it that made it possible for him

to survive that now he was listen

he had a lot of reasons to give up and

quit but he did not why

because of his awareness that almighty

god

was with him and when i think about the

the things that so many things that the

apostle paul said

about god’s presence with him he said

for example in acts 23

he’s going through a difficult time he

says the lord

stood by him he knew he knew the lord

was with him the lord stood by him

and he said to him on another occasion

don’t be afraid

i am with you and so all through

paul’s epistles we are continually

reminded that god is with us if i should

ask you if you believe

god is with you you probably say yes but

do you claim that

when times are tough do you remind

yourself that no matter what’s going on

and who’s treating me this way

almighty god is with me he said i will

never leave you

nor forsake you now either i have to

believe god will do what he says he’ll

do

or i don’t if i begin to question him

i’ll begin to consider

giving up in some situations if i

believe

what he says is true and that he’s true

to his word i’ll not give up

no matter what’s going on and often

times

we give up watch this oftentimes people

give up

right before victory is about to break

loose

right before opportunity stares them in

the face

they’re willing to give up people are

willing to give up

right before there can be a conciliation

right before things can change they want

to give up that’s why it’s

dangerous to ever give up because when

we give up in a situation we’re giving

up on god

he says i’ll never leave you nor forsake

you as long as you and i are walking in

his will and his way

it doesn’t make any difference how tough

it gets if we don’t give up we’re going

to be rewarded

think about this he says shipwrecked all

these times a day and a night in the sea

and over and over and over again

the jews tried their best to kill him

they tried to trap him they tried to

kill him they did everything imaginable

to get rid of him and yet you find him

in jail rejoicing in the lord and

praising god for what he’s doing in his

life

you know why because paul never

felt listen he never felt rejected by

jesus

or that jesus christ was absent in any

situation that he was in

the awareness of his presence will take

you through things

that nothing else will a second thing is

this

he the experience of god’s strength

within him

whenever you feel weak and you see when

we feel weak

and worn and then these things hit us we

are more prone to give in to them and to

give up

he talked about the strength that was in

him

and when you think about all these

experiences that he survived

he had to understand and experience the

strength of almighty god

three shipwrecks beaten all of these

many times

jailed there was he was a frequent

visitor to the jail and so all of these

things he’s experiencing

how did he experience it he had strength

but he was not necessarily a strong man

physically

probably a little short fellow and

sometimes

the evidence is that his eyesight wasn’t

all that good but he had

strength and what was that strength the

same strength that you and i have

to go through any situation we face in

life and that is the strength of

almighty god

now most of us know the verse when paul

said in

philippians i can do all things through

christ who strengthens me

listen he was aware of god’s presence

and being aware of god’s presence he was

aware of the

strength that god released in him

in that awareness of his presence no

matter what you’re going through what

you’re facing

you have the strength of god within you

because you have the holy spirit

living inside of you and that’s what

jesus promised his disciples

he knew that they were going to be

tempted to give up he knew they were

going to go through times

that would seem impossible and he said

the holy spirit will be in you with you

and upon you

and he will empower you strengthen you

to do whatever the father called you to

do

every single one of us has within us

adequate strength

to do the will of god you may say well i

don’t feel like i do

you may not feel like it but the truth

is are you claiming it

and you can have you can have spiritual

gifts and spiritual blessings

if you don’t claim them you don’t

understand them and if you don’t

understand them

you can experience them and so one of

the things that kept the apostle paul

from giving up

keep on keeping on was he experienced

the strength of almighty god in his life

when he stood in councils and they

criticized them

and wanted to crucify him if possible

everything they did

he never gave up he never quit now did

that mean that he

that he always just stood like a man i’m

sure there were times

when he was frightened for the moment

and this is why the lord would say to

him

uh here i i am beside you i’m going to

be with you in this

no matter what you what you’re going

through

and so when i think about his prayer for

example for the ephesians

he was encouraging them to pray for the

strength

that god that third chapter the strength

that god would give them

for what he called them to do and then

when he talks about

putting on the spiritual armor how does

he start that in the sixth chapter of

ephesians he says

be strong in the lord and in the power

of his might

and then he tells us even before he gets

to the armor which he talks about a hell

no salvation

they get to protect their mind the

breast men of righteousness to protect

our emotions

and this girl of truth so we’ll always

stand in the truth and he talks about

the sandals of salvation

always ready to go and then he talks

about the sword of the spirit the word

of god and then above

all else he says and above all else the

shield of faith

he starts out saying be strong in the

lord in the power of his might

that’s what you and i should start every

day with the awareness

that god is with us today and that we

have the strength of god to face

anything and everything and anybody and

everybody

no matter what the situation is because

listen it isn’t our strength it’s his

strength

if they go on my strength or your

strength some days we wouldn’t get up

but it’s the strength of the lord that

is it’s watch this it’s the divine

energy of god it’s the power of almighty

god within us

and that doesn’t mean you won’t have

difficult situations and circumstances

but he will enable us

to live through it no matter what and so

what kept him from giving up when he had

so many

reasons to give up was his awareness of

god’s presence you and i need the same

when likewise the same thing with him

and that is

we have the right to experience the

strength of god you have the holy spirit

living within you that is you have god

on the inside

and he’s watch this he’s not going to

call you watch this carefully

he’s not going to call you to do

anything face

anything experience anything without him

giving you the strength to do it

he says he causes all things to work

together for good to those who love him

to those who are called according to

this purpose and sometimes he allows us

to get in situations we think oh god

i don’t know that i can handle this why

does he allow some of those things

because

it gives him the opportunity to show us

how real he is

how faithful he is how powerful he is

and how adequate you and i

are when we put our trust in him and

that’s what

that’s what paul is is saying here in

these passages

then of course somebody says well now

how am i going to how am i going to have

that kind of courage

well two things and i said every single

sunday on purpose

if you’re gonna have courage in your

life

and you’re gonna understand that god is

working in your life

you’ve got to be in the word this is

this is the mind of god

this is the heart of god this is the

spirit of god

here’s here’s where we find all the

gifts of god

what god is up to in your life if i

neglect the word of god

and neglect spending time with him i’m

not going to be strong

it’s the word of god because as i read

what he says

when i read listen going through some

difficult time and thinking god

forget it and i come to this verse he

says god causes all these things to work

together for good

because i have called you then i can i

don’t have to give up

why i know that whatever i’m facing is

tough as it is

my god because he’s always truthfully is

going to turn it for my good

there are some things i cannot figure

out how god turns for good but he does

he listen he never said understand me he

said trust me

just trust me and that is the key and

the apostle paul

certainly knew what he was doing in his

relationship to god

he didn’t give up he didn’t quit he just

kept moving along trusting him

then of course the assurance of his will

for us there’s nothing that’s more

reassuring

to keep us from giving up than knowing

that we’re in the will of god

and this doesn’t mean that you have to

be preaching the gospel somewhere but

whatever god’s will is

but this point in your life you don’t

give up you don’t quit

and he said for example he knew where he

was when he faced all of these

situations he says

he says the father sent me to preach the

gospel not necessarily to baptize but to

preach the gospel

and he said for example in the 13th

chapter of acts uh he gives us a

in that 47th verse uh

he says assuring us that he knows what

god has called him to do

he says for example that god said to him

i’ve placed you as a light for the

gentiles

that you may bring salvation to the ends

of the earth

paul knew exactly where he was in life

once he was saved he knew exactly what

god was up to he said god says

i’ve called you to preach the gospel and

i have i have made you a light to the

gentiles because

first of all the gospel was only being

preached to the jews

and so because of the way they treated

him and because they rejected him

he just brushed it off of of his clothes

and said i’m going to the gentiles

because that’s exactly what god intended

for him to do

so the issue is this if i’m going to be

able to keep on keeping on

i’ve got to know that i’m i’m doing what

god says do

how god says do it when god says do it

and where he says do it

i don’t even have to understand why it’s

always good to understand why and most

of the time we will

but if if you want if you want to have

the strength that you don’t give up

and you don’t quit and remember what i

said how many times people

give up and quit right before the

blessing

right before god opens the door they

walk away from the opportunity

right before god settles an issue in a

marriage oftentimes somebody walks away

and so that gives up all pop all

possibility

of renewing that marriage you can just

go through illustration after

illustration

you don’t give up because you may give

up at the very time

when the best that you’re looking for is

there waiting for you

and the apostle paul knew that he

understood

he was in the will of the father and for

example wherever he went

god was there guiding him and leading he

was uh on the second missionary journey

he was about to go

uh east and preaching the gospel and the

spirit of god cinel wants you to go west

if he had gone east you and i would not

be where we are today but he

but the spirit of god spoke to him and

then likewise

when the lord spoke to him made it very

clear

where he was he gave us the same

promises

listen paul doesn’t have a saying paul

didn’t have a single promise we don’t

have

and remember this paul didn’t have the

new testament he had the old testament

and then he had the sayings of jesus but

he didn’t have it down like you and i

have it

on the printed page and so when i come

to this question of

what god is up to here’s a here’s a

verse i always come back to

in psalm 32 8. he says i will teach you

in the way

which you should go i will guide you

with my eye upon you

he didn’t say i’d make it easy but he

said i will teach you the way you should

go you don’t have to give up and quit

you don’t have to wonder what’s going on

i’ll show you that and then in proverbs

3 5 and 6

he says trust in the lord with all your

heart lean not to your own understanding

you may not understand it

in all your ways acknowledge him he says

i’ll direct your path

we don’t have to give up and we don’t

have to quit and we don’t have to wonder

what to do

god has already assured us of his

guidance and direction

then the overflow the overflowing joy

that fills us for example

and the apostle paul is such a beautiful

example of that because the

uh the book of philippians for example

is all about joy and here he is in jail

not doesn’t have very long to live and

what is he talking about

he’s talking about joy he starts off

talking about

where he is and what’s happening in jail

and that

he says i want you to know brethren that

my circumstances have turned out for the

greater progress of the gospel

and how is that true because all the all

the guards that came in to guard him

he just shared the gospel with them and

so one after the other

and so he said before long the whole

pretarian guard

knew that he was there and it heard the

gospel of jesus christ

and you find you find the sense of joy

throughout

paul’s writings and he says rejoice and

again i say rejoice

he comes to the fourth chapter and he’s

still rejoicing and he’s still in prison

why because he knew the father was with

him he knew that he was doing the

father’s will

and he knew that he was following

god’s plan and purpose for his life had

it been tough it had been

by the time he got to this place he

either had a thousand reasons to give up

and quit

wouldn’t think about quitting why for

the simple reason

he knew that he was doing what the

father had called him to do

so i would simply ask you this um

do you do you rejoice

you say what do you mean by i mean do

you have any happy moments when things

are tough

can you just say thank you jesus praise

the lord i just want to bless your holy

name

can you rejoice in the lord when things

are tough or do you say

god why do you let this happen to me

father why don’t you answer my prayer in

other words you know you and i can argue

with god

and that doesn’t somebody says well god

must get angry no he doesn’t he realizes

we’re just human

we make mistakes and heroes a lot of

things we don’t understand

but you know i’m over here and um i’m

wondering why things the way they are

over here

and god’s over here and he says look

when you get up here you just wait

you’re going to be so glad you didn’t

jump off the table

here you are and i’ve been waiting for

you because i have the best for you

listen to this god has the best for his

children

anything less than that anything less

than that

is not of god now that doesn’t mean

there won’t be difficulty hardship and

trial

for us just like there was for the

apostle paul but he’s going

to turn it for our good if we respond in

the proper

fashion so this is why he could rejoice

even in jail

and even in his message he’s telling

them to rejoice even he’s

close to death and knows that he is and

he’s talking about rejoicing in the lord

then of course the life-changing lessons

that god teaches us

you think about how much truth you know

you know if you just come to church

sunday after sunday after sunday and

you take notes week after week after

week and in the first service two uh

people came down the aisle one of them

said i’ve been

watching in touch for 24 years i haven’t

said 27 years and taking notes

i think about how much truth i know

they’ve heard

if they’ve listened they’ve heard truth

that the truth that the truth that the

truth after truth that’s the truth after

truth that’s the truth

and this is why i said you write it down

write it down write it down

but the apostle paul he was an awesome

student of the word of god

and on one occasion it says for example

he hadn’t been saved very long

he went to instead of going to jerusalem

and talking to the apostles

he went to arabia to get by himself so

that

god could teach him the truth and when

you think for a moment

if we didn’t have the epistles of the of

paul what we we know about

sanctification

salvation uh substitution or death of

jesus

the atoning death of jesus however what

we know about

declared righteous before almighty god

all the doctrinal things that we believe

we wouldn’t know it if the apostle paul

had not lived it did not give up kept

going

and kept learning and learning and

learning and teaching in those days

and so much of what what he has written

to us he wrote from a jail cell

i mean when i think about having been

through all that instead of sitting in a

jail moping about

how difficult things are and oftentimes

his

followers supposedly his followers would

be outside the jail criticizing him

when he’s in the jail doing what the

will of god it was for his life

and so you can you can have a morbid

moping attitude you can rejoice in the

lord

always no matter what’s going on so let

me ask you a question

have you ever been in trouble and god

said do it yourself

has he ever said i’m leaving you i’m

going to let you handle it

you you take care of it i’m i’m finished

with you moping and groaning and griping

and

and wondering where i am no

he just lets us mope and groan and

whatever it might be

then when we get serious enough to get

right with him

what does he do he always comes through

and we understand

as that old song says we understand it

better by and by

god loves you he wants the best for you

and when i think about

why people give up they give up because

they don’t know him they give it because

they don’t believe it they don’t trust

him

they feel hopeless instead of thinking

my hope is in

christ in christ alone my hope is built

on nothing less

but jesus christ and his righteousness

you know when people say well

things are just not going my way ask

yourself this question

if things aren’t going your way before

you give up quit ask yourself this

question

i wonder if things are going god’s way

and i’m out of his will

i don’t understand it and he’s up to

something i’m not aware of

it just may be that what you’re going

through that’s difficult and tough and

you want to quit and give up

is the very thing god is using to draw

you to himself

cause you to cling to him open your eyes

help you to see who he is and what he’s

up to in your life

and teach you to apply the truth all of

us know more truth than we probably

apply

so i’m going to ask you this when you

take notes for example on sunday morning

you go and put those notes somewhere

i hope you put them all in the same

place but

do you ever pull them out during the

week

do you ever hear anything i know you do

do you ever hear anything

uh on sunday during the week you think

oh god i needed that

well where are your notes

are you fumbling around trying to figure

out where they are

the apostle paul listened he loved

what god taught him and so in jail

instead of moping around

and having a pity party what’s he doing

he’s thinking about you and me now he

doesn’t know 2000 years later we’re

going to hear this and see it

but what is he doing god is leading him

to write down

what god is teaching him and what he’s

experiencing

in a cold roman jail sale he could just

be complaining

but listen he didn’t give up he didn’t

quit and he didn’t have words to say

about nero and all the rest of them

he listen he applied what he knew

where he was what he had to apply in

order that those

who followed him would know the truth i

see about apostle paul

hallelujah praise god that he didn’t

give up and quit

and and that he he wrote it down so you

and i

have it to live by then of course the

fruit his truth has produced through him

he said for example on his missionary

journalist the churches were growing

one thing the churches were growing and

they were they were

increasing in membership all the time

and if you’ll think about it he wrote

these epistles to these churches the

corinth

the philippi the galatians to the romans

and so forth

and uh if you turn to the book of

corinthians and you just read that book

that was no pastor would want to be the

pastor of the first baptist church in

corinth or any corinthian church that

that was a terrible crowd

they were they were guilty of about

everything you can think of and if you

read the book of corinthians

it’s all about his correcting this sin

and that sin and the other

did he give up no and think about this

when he would establish a church and

leave a few people

then he’d come back around the second

and third missionary journeys sometimes

when he came back

they were just in the mess they’d let

false teachers come in

and um they didn’t know what they

believed sometime and they fussed and

thought

just like people do today at some point

you’d think paul would say you know what

enough of this

three missionary journeys and y’all are

still acting like this

and yet the gospel survived and 2000

years later

we were worshiping the lord jesus christ

and sending missionaries all over the

world

preaching and teaching the word of god

and our names are written in the lamb’s

book of life

and you and i are eternally secure

because of the gospel

so we’re encouraged by what he wrote and

what he suffered

then for example the reward he’s

promised us one of the reasons that we

should never give up

is thinking about what god has provided

for us

and if you’ll notice in this passage we

read a few moments ago to

ii timothy he said to uh

timothy in the future there is laid up

for me the crown of righteousness which

the lord the righteous judge

will award to me on that day and not

only to me but to all who love

his appearing paul knew

he had an awesome reward coming and you

say well i don’t think i have any

let me ask you a question you raise your

children to be godly

big reward love your husband or your

wife

reward you do your best to reward

do your best in school reward share your

faith reward

stand up for the truth reward give to

the lord’s work we just go on and on and

on the thousand ways god can reward his

children

and you see there’s not a single

legitimate reason

for a child of god to give up and quit

and throw in the towel

listen you have god on your side he’s

not only on your side he’s living within

you

he’s promised to be there he’s promised

to be with you always

and he’s promised to enable you help you

strengthen you

encourage you in every circumstance of

life

so when people say well you know if you

just understood what i was going

through well maybe i do maybe i don’t i

know somebody who does and that’s god

and god understood whatever you’re going

through before you ever started going

through it

and listen he’s ready and willing to

equip you

so that you won’t give up right before

the best

happens in your life and the reason i

repeat that is because i’ve seen that so

many times

in so many different ways in people’s

lives and i’ve seen in my own life

when i think oh god and right before i

think lord i can’t handle any more of

this

that i’ll open some awesome door and i

thank him and thank him in thanking that

he didn’t let me give up and quit

because he never intended for us to do

that

so i’m saying to you because god is

saying to you whatever you are facing

in life at this moment no matter how

difficult it is

how tough it is how discouraging it is

and all the reasons and the evidence you

have for walking away and all the

all the proof that you have that things

are wrong remember there is a god in

heaven

and if you’re saved he’s living within

you and that god

will take you through whatever you’re

facing in life

no matter what you don’t get listen

watch this

you say well i’m giving up i’m giving up

on my job i’m giving up on this i’m

getting

no you’re giving up on god as a follower

of jesus when you give up you’re giving

up on him

your boss or your marriage somebody else

can’t do for you

you’re giving up on god you don’t give

up on the supreme

listen the supreme power

in the whole universe you don’t give up

on it and the one who loves you

enough to have given his son to die on

the cross you don’t give up on him

so remember who you’re giving up on and

when you do

you won’t give up well i think

also the vision of the cross always

before us

that’s what paul said the vision of the

cross always before him

and he makes an awesome statement in

this sixth chapter

of galatians and when you

listen to what he says here and you look

at the light that he lived

and here’s what he says he says in the

14th verse

but may it never be that i would boast

accept that one thing he says except in

the cross

of the lord jesus christ through which

the world has been

crucified to me and out of the world he

said the cross

has made it possible for me to survive

any and everything

because it’s at the cross the atoning

death of jesus christ

purchased our salvation at the cross the

atoning death of jesus christ

purchased everything we have it’s the

atoning death of jesus christ that shed

of his blood

that makes our forgiveness a living

reality

jesus didn’t give up he didn’t quit

though he must have in the flesh

at times been discouraged but not in the

spirit you know why because he and the

father were absolutely one

and he knew that nothing could conquer

him because he was god

in the human flesh you don’t give up you

don’t quit

and around us today that lots of people

want to give up there lots of people who

want to quit they can give you some

some rather um

shall we say good reasons from their

perspective

while they should walk away from a

situation of why they should quit

but not in god’s viewpoint he has the

best for us and he’s willing to give us

the best

but he doesn’t bless quitters it won’t

happen

christ sacrificed his life for our

salvation

and when i look at the scriptures and

see what jesus did he didn’t give up

i can’t give up the apostle paul didn’t

give up we can’t give up

and here’s the issue he will reward us

for not giving up

the reward may not come to glory or you

may be rewarded

today or tomorrow or next week or next

month or next year

he doesn’t overlook our obedience

our faithfulness our loyalty our

devotion and to our keep on

keeping on then of course naturally

our love and devotion to jesus christ

that should keep us

keeping on no matter what and paul said

in a beautiful way in philippians he

said

for me to live is for christ to live for

me to die

is my gain so think about that isn’t

that really what you and i want for our

life

that we want to live the kind of life

that when people meet

us it won’t take them long to hear jesus

in our voice

it won’t take him long to see christ in

our actions

it won’t take them long to feel the love

that you and i feel for them

he said for to me to live is christ

that was his whole perception for to me

to live is christ and he says not to die

i gained by that but for me to live is

for christ to live

and so if i should ask you do you love

god naturally you’d say you do

do you love him enough to serve him oh

yes do you love him enough to suffer for

him

well it depends on what that is

no if we love him

we won’t give up we won’t quit when the

going gets rough

when the suffering gets hard the pain

becomes intense

we don’t give up and we don’t quit we

keep going because

jesus kept going the apostle paul kept

going and the teaching of scripture is

that you and i

keep going likewise and paul talks about

he talks about god being rich in mercy

and grace and love toward us and he is

and so many of god’s people oftentimes

they want to give up and quit and i’m

saying to you don’t give up and quit

ask god to give you wisdom and to give

you strength

to keep going and i can think of some

people in my own mind

heart that been through very very

difficult times

and i wondered how they made it through

because they trusted god because they

believed the very things that we’ve

talked about here maybe

didn’t think about them in that way but

if you had asked them

do you think that god is with you yes

do you believe he’s listening to your

prayers yes are you reading the word of

god

yes you could just go right down the

line and all the things we’ve said

they would have said yes to and yet

nobody ever laid it out

as a principal laid it out in an outline

for them

so let me ask you a question today

what are you tempted to give up on

what are you tempted to walk away from

are you willing to say to him lord

i’m hanging in here no matter what

because i know that if i’m in here

you’re in here with me by my side

to see me through and once in a while

i’ll put something on the back stream

because i just want you to see with your

eyes i can say it

but look at this for a moment because

here’s the reasons people give up

and the way they give up listen because

when they

face situations they face them fearfully

afraid hopelessly they don’t see

their way clear because they’re looking

through the eyes of fear

rebelliously they don’t like it they

don’t want it that away

and so what happens

fearfully hopelessly rebelliously or you

can look at those situations

courageously

and the next simple phrase i have up

there is this

we make the choice we make the choice

of how we live through the difficult

times in life

and it’s my prayer that whoever you are

if you’ve never trusted jesus christ as

your savior

i can tell you you’re not going to make

it

you may say well i have so much money

you can lose it

you i have great health you can lose

that i have a great family you can lose

that

you can lose anything and everything

listen

but if you’re saved by the grace of god

you can’t lose that

you can’t lose your salvation you can’t

lose your relationship to almighty god

and god has called us to trust him as

our savior through jesus christ

lay our life before him and allow him to

live his life through us

and to demonstrate to the world that

jesus christ

is who he says he is he will do what he

says he’ll do

and he’s more than capable of fulfilling

that promise

i would plead with you don’t walk away

don’t quit don’t give up don’t throw in

the tail

as people say but just tell the lord

lord

i’m going to trust you to see me through

this i don’t know how

but i’m going to trust you because you

said you will never leave me nor forsake

me

and god i believe you always tell

the truth father how grateful we are

that you have placed within us your very

self and the person of the holy spirit

to equip us to do anything and

everything you would have us to do

in such a way we don’t ever have to quit

and give up

we want to keep on keeping on because

that is the

image that jesus leaves us in the image

of the apostle paul

and multitudes of saints who’s gone

before us

so i pray for any and every person here

this morning

who is feeling tempted to give up

who’s feeling tempted to quit who’s

feeling tempted to walk out

to walk away to lay it down to lay it

aside

to turn around that you would remind

them there are many reasons not to

there are many reasons to stay steady

and calm as paul would say to timothy

and to keep moving on and trusting you

moment by moment and you said you will

cause all the things that may tempt us

and tries to quit

to turn out for our good if we’ll trust

you and we just want to say thank you

for that

in jesus name amen