Run With Endurance, Part 2

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. What's happening to us today is difficult, but not even close to what other people have gone through in the history of man. Not even close to that type of suffering. But God has used pain and suffering in our life to do two things. First, that's how He saves people. How are people saved? Because of the pain and suffering of Jesus Christ. And He endured it. So people could be saved like you and me. And then to help His people grow spiritually by strengthening them to endure in the terrible circumstances in life. We don't know much about endurance. We don't want to endure anything.

We want everything to be painless. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's Word meets our world. Enduring tribulation and trials changing.

That's how your and my character is shaped. What is it we will endure? He said we get proven character and that brings about hope. And he said hope doesn't disappoint because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit. Notice that connection. Enduring, change, character, hope. He said that's the way this works.

That's an amazing thing. Why I say that is this and I want you to think about this. How you go through these days right now. May be the most maturing time in your life as a Christian.

Your opportunity to spiritually mature during this may be the greatest time in your life to mature as a believer. You need to think about that instead of we want to whine and complain about it. And we want solutions right away and they're always temporal.

It's always the government needs to do something and medical doctors need to do something. That's what we need. But maybe what we really need is spiritual. We may need to grow. And this as we endure it will make us grow.

That's what it says. Notice in five he says that endurance is connected to hope. There's a direct connection between what you endure and how you hope. Our hope allows us to endure.

See that's the whole point. Verses like all things work together for the good are designed to give you and me hope. Paul said into the Philippians I've learned the secret of contentment.

You see what do you mean? I've learned to be content in a palace or in a prison. I've learned to be content with much or nothing. I've learned to be content when I'm healthy or I'm not healthy. I've learned to be content in any and every circumstance. Why? I have hope. See I have hope. When you have that in your life the maturity level you have you and I become impervilous to the trials and tribulations of life.

Just imagine that you're to a point spiritually in your life and when a trial comes up you view it as an opportunity. Oh great Lord this will give me a chance to really mature. It's hard for us to think that way. What do we want? Lord make it go away. Make it go away. That's what I want.

I just want it to go away. That's not enduring. The question is do I have the strength to do this?

You see I think for all of us what we keep thinking is that all sounds good but I know me I don't have the strength for this. I don't. And I want to tell you of course not. Neither do I. Neither does anybody. That's not the way this works. You see it's not a matter how do I muster up enough strength to be able to endure this.

It's not the way it works. Go with me to Ephesians chapter 3. Ephesians chapter 3.

Verse 14 the Apostle Paul says for this reason I bow my knees before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. He says that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with the power through his spirit in the inner man. What's he telling you?

Who's going to strengthen you? It's God. He says yeah and I'm praying you understand this Paul said I would pray you'd get this. I would pray that you would understand that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory. How many riches are in the glory of God?

Infinite. He says remember this comes from the infinite glories and power of God. To you and me to be strengthened with power. Denimous power.

It's a great word. We love this word power. We get the word dynamite. That's what we call dynamite. Dynamite has a lot of power doesn't it?

You see an explosion like the one we saw last week in Beirut. Look at that power. That's a grain of sand on all the oceans compared to the power of God. And God says that's a power I have for you. I just don't feel very strong.

I don't know if I'll hold up. He says no I give you the power. Think about how the power of God has worked in your life. The power of God is what saved you. Romans 1 16 I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes. How are you saved?

By the power of God. The power of God empowers us to witness. Jesus said you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses. Where do I get the power to witness to other people?

He said I give it to you. I was saved by the power of God. I witnessed by the power of God. He said the power of God makes us overflow with joy and peace. Romans 15 13 may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Where do I get my joy from? The Holy Spirit.

Where do I get my hope from? Holy Spirit. God said that's my power. I'll give you that power. The power of God gives us confidence for everything that comes to our life. He said to Timothy for the Spirit of God does not make us timid he gives us power and love and self-discipline. The power of God provides everything we need.

I love what Peter wrote. His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Key phrase everything you need. Everything you need. Who knows everything you need? God. Who gives you the power for everything you need? God. Sadly what's the only thing that can stop this? You.

You. You don't believe it. You'll say you believe it because I read the scripture to you. That's not believing. Remember Tony Evans said believing is acting on the fact that you believe God is telling the truth. You have to act upon what God says. You have to act like he's telling you the truth here. That's what gives us the power.

You see when you read these verses you come to this conclusion. You never can say you know I can't do this. I can't.

Look let's get this straight. Every good thing spiritual in your life you can't do any of it. You can't do any of it. You can't get saved except for God.

You can't grow except for God. You can't serve except for God. You can't. You can't but he can.

That's the Christian life. But more importantly it's not only you can he can but he will. That's what he's saying and I will do this. I will give you my power to go through something like this. He strengthens us.

Notice how that he would grant you according to the riches of glory to be strengthened with the power through his Holy Spirit. And the inner man. Where do we get the power. Where's the power reside. The inner man. That's where it resides. What is the inner man.

Well I give you four different words that are used in scripture. The inner man is the inner being. The inner man is the heart. The inner man is your soul. That part of you. God says yeah that's where I put the power. I put the power in that inner man. That being.

That's what he does. 1 Samuel 16 7. People look at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart.

I want to see the heart. Psalm 139. You created my innermost being. Search me a God and know my heart.

That's where the issue is. 2 Corinthians 4 16. Though the outer self is wasting away our inner life. Our inner self is being renewed. Isn't that a great thing about life. Though the outer man is decaying.

And at my age you start realizing this. The inner man is being renewed. God says yeah I got that.

That's what I'm talking about. The inner man. Hebrews 4 12 tells us how it works. The word of God is living and active.

Sharper than any two-edged sword. It pierces in division the soul and the spirit. The word of God speaks to my heart. You want to not grow as a Christian just fill your head with the word of God and never let it make that journey to your heart.

You'll know a whole lot and all you'll be is a smart sinner. It's got to be in my soul and my being. First Thessalonians 5 23 may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless to the coming of the Lord.

He's concerned about the inner man. There's a lot of you hear a lot now about this whole newfangled thing of how we're trying to worship. And I hate to say it but many Christians are viewing worship as an outward manifestation. Well you've got to be in the building.

You have to be. You have to have a praise team up there doing this. That's what that's worship. It's not. God says I see your heart.

You could come in here every single week dutifully and never worship God once. It's your heart. That's what this is about.

You see that's what he's saying that's where the emphasis is. We are not flesh and blood. We are not even since Sigmund Freud psychological beings. We are spirit beings. That's what makes us the image of God. We are spirit beings. Eternal beings. From a spiritual perspective. You see why do we need our inner man?

Why do we need him so strengthened? Notice verse 17. So that. He tells you why. So that.

Let me tell you why I'm telling you this. So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. I love what the living Bible paraphrase says here. I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts. Living within you as you trust in him.

What a great way to say it. Is Christ at home in your heart? Is he at home in your heart? That's a question all of us have to answer. You see that's such an important thing.

I love the way he says that. He may dwell in your heart through faith in that you being rooted and grounded in love. What becomes the motive of your life? Love.

If he's really at home in your life. That's the motive of your life. Everything in my life comes down to just two things Jesus said in both. If Christ is at home in my life. I love the Lord my God with all my heart, all my strength, all of it. I love him with everything I have. And I love you too. I love my neighbors myself.

Jesus said the whole law depends on this. That's why love is the issue. It's love. You see I have a love for God who I worship. I have a love for my brothers and sisters in Christ who are part of the body of Christ.

And I have a love for the lost. Jesus takes it further and if I'm like Jesus I love my enemies. You see you want to know how far you are along the love measurement.

Don't you know what it's usually like for us? Well you'd say you love God and you love people who love you. And then the word tolerance comes in.

And then the word anger comes in. I mean we can't love our enemies. No you can't. Jesus can. In fact he loved you when you were an enemy. You see that's what he says happens to us in this. That's what the Holy Spirit strengthens us to do. The more we get of Christ in our heart. The more we become like him. The more we can endure because we're like him.

And he endured the cross which is more than any human being has ever endured. So what does difficult circumstances require of us? Endurance.

What does it take to endure? Strength. Who gives us the strength?

God's Spirit. What happens when we utilize that strength? We become more like Jesus. And what happens when we become more like Jesus? We become consumed by love. Notice what he says then. He said that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, the length and the height and the depth and to know the love of Christ.

What a great way to describe this. How wide is the love of Christ? I can tell you how wide. This wide as he hung on a cross. And guess who comes between that?

All of us. That's how wide that love is. How long is the love of Christ? It's an everlasting love from eternity past to eternity future.

It never fails. Nothing can separate me from the love of Christ, Paul says. How high is the love of Christ? It is above all created things. It's higher than the highest star. It's a heavenly love.

It's agape. It's higher than anything on earth. How deep does it go? Well, it goes deeper than all of our failures, all of our problems, all of our pains. It's deeper than our sin and it's deeper than our circumstances right now. That's the depth of the love of Christ. That love fills us with his fullness. He said that you may know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

Wow. That's God's goal for you. One day when you're absent in the body and present with the Lord, that will be your realization. But every day until that moment, God is trying to continue to have you spiritually mature and become more conformed to the image of Christ every day.

And of all the things God uses to do that, the thing that he does that does it more than anything else are the trials and tribulations of living as a sinner in a fallen world. And boy, when you endure, he said, that's when you grow. You see, that's when you grow.

That's when I grow. And I love it. He said it surpasses knowledge.

How good is it going to be for you and I? I can tell you. I don't have that knowledge.

No one does. That's why when I hear people talk about what heaven's going to be like, almost always, it's pitiful. Some are more pitiful than others. Oh, heaven's going to be a crawfish boil that lasts all day.

Really? That's what you think. Paul says, I can't even, I can't describe it. I don't have any words for it.

There's nothing I can do to describe it. I love this Paul do. I love this. He does what we should do. Verse 20 and 21, he falls into a doxology. He says, now to him who is able to do more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

He just breaks into doxology. Do you have any idea? You see, it's a matter of perspective. Do you have any idea how good these circumstances could be for you?

Any idea? I don't think we look at it that way very often. We run a race, he said, you've got to run it with endurance. We're fallen people living on a cursed planet. Terrible stuff is happening. Terrible stuff will happen in the future. Terrible stuff has happened in the past. Terrible stuff always happens.

It's a cursed planet full of sinful people. What's happening to us today is difficult, but not even close to what other people have gone through in the history of man. Not even close to that type of suffering. But God has used pain and suffering in our life to do two things. First, that's how he saves people. How are people saved? Because of the pain and suffering of Jesus Christ. And he endured it. So people could be saved like you and me.

And then to help his people grow spiritually by strengthening them to endure in the terrible circumstances of life. We don't know much about endurance. We don't want to endure anything. We want everything to be painless. I mean, I'll be guilty.

I've asked a dentist or two, is this going to hurt? Really? Because I don't want to endure anything. We have young couples that don't want to endure problems in marriage. I don't want to endure it. I'm out. I don't want to endure. Just don't miss it. How important this is.

The glorious result is that we can become conformed to the image of Christ and to be filled with the love of God. I implore you, don't waste these difficult circumstances. Don't waste them. These have been sent to us by God.

This is for our good. Get from God what he intends for you to have through this pandemic we're in. Because this could be spiritually the most important time of your life.

Let's pray. Father, we're conditioned to never see difficulty this way. We're always, always, Father, take the perspective that the key is just relieve us of the circumstances so everything will be good. But Father that's not the way of this earth.

Trials, tribulations, pain and suffering being a fallen person living on this cursed planet. But thank you Father that you use all this for our benefit. You use this to help us become conformed to the image of our Savior. To become full of the love of God. To become full of joy and peace and hope. Because we have grown so much like our Lord.

Father, you use these circumstances to whatever degree you decree for as long as you decide. But I pray for us Father that we don't waste them. That we see this as a great opportunity for each and every one of us to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his name we pray.

Amen. At that website you will find not only today's broadcast but also many of our previous audio programs as well. At Fellowship in the Word we are thankful for those who financially support our ministry and make this broadcast possible. We ask all of our listeners to prayerfully consider how you might help this radio ministry continue its broadcast on this radio station by supporting us monthly or with just a one-time gift. Support for our ministry can be sent to Fellowship in the Word 4600 Clearview Parkway, Metairie, Louisiana 7006. If you would be interested in hearing today's message in its original format that is as a sermon that Pastor Bill delivered during a Sunday morning service at Fellowship Bible Church then you should visit our website fbcnola.org That's fbcnola.org At our website you will find hundreds of Pastor Bill's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for or you can search by title. Once you find the message you are looking for you can listen online or if you prefer you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember you can do all of this absolutely free of charge. Once again our website is fbcnola.org For Pastor Bill Gebhardt I'm Jason Gebhardt thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word.