City Central Church Podcast
Endurance
Chris Hippe - November 1, 2009
And not see a Christian's life restored into a greater fullness where you see a greater joy a greater peace and for them To move forward in a more productive way for the Kingdom of God all the while being overseen by knowing God number one Amen, so that's coming up the 19th to the 22nd now if you have your Bibles What I'd like you to do is I'd like you to open to Romans 15 tonight How many of you have heard of Bob sorghy heard a message from Bob sorghy last weekend? Bob sorghy's a gentleman. It was with us from Kansas City the International House of Prayer and he is a gentleman that came and spoke Friday night Saturday night and Sunday morning and I got my world absolutely rocked Can I get an amen by anybody else in the body? I I was astounded by a man that has been afflicted for 17 years with a vocal cord injury that is painstaking to even make a whisper And he preached for one hour, and he preached with more gusto more fire more passion Then then I have seen in a long long time I sat there talking back tears as he came Friday night and explained the power of the blood of Jesus Christ He explained it in such a way that you and I our Inheritance is to know Jesus and to be able to come boldly because of Christ and the blood that was shed on the cross and to be seated with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and to be able to have that type of intimacy and Then all of a sudden Sunday morning He brings a word called the chastisement of God and I swallowed heavy I don't know about you no one else in here when he started talking about an espresso shot and things like that That had me a little bit concerned. I will tell you I have never heard a message on the discipline of God That's so encouraged me and wanted me to be more like Jesus. It's amazing and then Saturday I explained Saturday laughs because it really was that Life-altering for me. He explained endurance and what it means to endure He went to the first book of the Bible in the Old Testament out of Joe and he clearly declared that Joe's theme is enduring trial enduring suffering for the snake's sake of the Lord and then he went all the sudden to the first book of the New Testament which is the book of James and he went right in the book of James and he Exegeted the book of James to such a degree that I went oh my word He said that the New Testament also starts with the reality that you and I are called to endure trials because when you endure trials What it makes you is perfect and it not just makes you perfect, but it makes you fully complete He described in verse two its most horrific passage and reality and then verse four is the greatest promise You've ever heard of James chapter one and I personally was so refreshed and encouraged by the entire time Now, how many of you could say I got like at least a dozen more points out of each one of the messages that I could preach a message on Anybody else? I will understand it as people have been processing Bob's visit with us And so tonight what I want to do is actually bring the two together I want you so father even right now. I ask that we just celebrate the the dedications of the children We just adds a joy Lord It is an utter joy to see those kids and father to see their parents Declaring and knowing that they are going to raise their children so father I thank you for that and now I pray that you would take the word of God and that you would Encourage hearts you would refresh spirits and then do it a work only spirit that only you can do And so we just submit our lives over to you afresh tonight and just declare we need you We want you and want to experience more of you by the time we're done this evening in Jesus name amen Bob said something that really struck me. He said and it was a side note He simply said this he said I want to make sure that you know that I don't cope You remember that part give me that if you remember that part. He says I want to just make sure and take care of this now I'm not coping with this thing. He goes Christians. Don't cope they endure There's a big difference between coping and enduring and when he said that to me. It struck me deep It struck me deep because I started to realize that there's a propensity in all of our lives Christians at large to actually settle for coping versus enduring to settle for the Minor hum of hopelessness the minor hum of defeat the minor hum of criticalness the minor hum in life to just agree I'll just manage this thing versus enduring which is having eternal mindset going Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior I see eternity and I will press through because of what he's done for me And so when I started to see the difference it started to play games with me a little bit Because I started to see my own life. I started to ask myself a question. Where am I coping? Amen Where am I coping? Where am I settling for the coping versus actually enduring and pressing through? Where am I coping in and just saying oh, I'm just going to manage this area and then I started to Really analyze it and then I started to go. Well, what are the keys of endurance? What is it that's going to really bring endurance really that I don't want to cope But then I want to endure but the reality is how how do I endure? What are the keys of endurance and I started to do my own study before the war God help me open my eyes Show me because I want to be one that moves all the way through life now How many of us have heard the statistics before of the reality of Christians on the planet. I can tell you how many stories I've heard that have gone something similar to this I had a Bible when I was 18 years old and I had four to my right and five to my left We were the dynamic ten and we would go out and we would preach the gospel We'd stand on the back of flatbed trucks and we would preach the gospel We would go and we would look for people that were sick and we would pray for them We would go around and do radical things for the Lord and I put their names in the back of my Bible One degree how many in 10 years would be living with the same passion with the same zeal to endure all the way through Ten years from now. I can't tell you how many books that I've read and I have this Anticipation going oh Lord tell me it's all 10 Tell me it's all ten. I need God. Just please tell me that it's all ten people Actually endured ten years living in this amazing relationship and leading things from the word having great fellowship with the brethren having having a prayer life that just Exceeds in a vow and looking and having eyes for the loss and going and preaching the gospel that the people would be saved God tell me that it's ten out of ten. I just I want to hear ten out of ten really bad Really bad and all of the stories that I've heard End up similar to this Well, I know one Well, I know one That's kind of hunting after God Kind of seeking the Lord kind of receiving his grace on a daily basis kind of But the other eight Well, they dropped off completely Where are they? What happened to them? I don't know and I'm here story after story after story of this No matter if it's young or old and I hear that and I go there is something wrong with the reality of churches we know it There's something wrong That we would not have ten for ten. There's something that we are obviously Either not preaching or knowing or receiving out of the word That I can go ten years from now all of us All of us Everyone in this room that knows Jesus Christ and their Savior for Could be able to look back and as Bob said I made it through it was close He struck my meal if you remember that portion, but we would be able to look at each other and go with me We done well Keep going I Want that desperately more than anything? I want that desperately more than anything. I want to see every one of us Or if you're not here in your sense out and you're in the world what we're getting our reports of incredible things happening But we're pressing full in the fall and so I go before the war I go tell me What it means to endure through what are the necessities to endure? How do you endure? But then I started to really play this together And then when Bob Bob started to talk about remember when he talked about you just feel dead and your arm just goes you describe what it means to just feel so exhausted and dead and That just riding a little note to a person in the church is like a finger move Just getting feeling that pressing forward and you move more of your hand you digging into the Bible I Still appreciated it, but what struck me when he goes and then there's heaven the angels are going. He moved his finger He moved his finger keep going Don't stop heavens rejoicing encouraging going keep going keep going keep going my record on keep going Destiny's and keep going Julie won't keep going. Heaven is declared keep going Don't stop you're doing great. Don't hold back. It's time keep going And I heard it that way Why is that a foreign thing why is that a foreign thing because there's a boy and There's a necessity to understand there's something going on in heaven keep going and we're down you're going I'm good at endure, but there's this gap Between the two that I want to address tonight Amen So if you have your violence go to Romans 15 The gap that I want to address is the difference between enduring right now and just making it through Versus overcoming and in a community that's living dynamic on fire They come that you could come in and it's like people breathe life into you. You come in you're different It's like before the worship leader gets up and encourages you and and makes you feel great You feel like you've met with the Lord a community that grabs on to this gap in the word that fills this gap is a community That is like stirring all the time and that's not about individual reports that are happening because there's so much Amazing amazing things that are going on a person can walk into an environment like this And if we're functioning in this word then what happens is they are already filled with God They come there they worship him they encounter the Lord and they leave different and the word has not been even presented There's not even a worship song because they encountered a community that's filling that's filled with a Romans 15 verse 4 Says this for everything that was written in the past was written to teach us so that through endurance and The encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope Everybody say the word encourage I want to tell you that if you and I Grab hold of a special degree of Encouragement in our lives. I want to tell you this is a plot over topic I want to tell you that the enemy has has fought really hard to get us as individuals on our fields That we would not come forward and encourage and press it The enemy is fought hard to put us back on our haunches And I believe what the Lord wants to do tonight is come behind us and press us forward and go press in Soar bill do what you know what to do Don't double-pink yourself. Yeah, encouragement is defined according to the Western dictionary is this to inspire with courage Everybody say courage How many of you need a little bit more courage? How many of you this week have had an opportunity to apply last week's message on endurance? Isn't that interesting okay? Encouragement and endurance go hand-in-hand which we will see in just a minute Encouragement is inspire with courage a spirit or confidence. It's fundamentally big Okay, another definition is to stimulate by assistance. Everybody say stimulate Isn't that amazing that encouragement stimulates? Three to promote encouragement means to promote advance or foster It sounds pretty familiar to the the Philippians chapter 2 verse 3 that says consider other better than yourself Western dictionary says Encouragement actually promotes other people it actually presses people forward it actually considers other better than itself Encouragement comes to press people Forward not in just their calling to produce but presses people forward that they would live a fuller life in Christ It presses people forward to know a lot more Encouragement is designed by nature that you and I would press each other for now This is an interesting thing about encouragement. Have you ever wanted encouragement really bad, but you never gotten it? Wave your hand you name and something like that And then one day you're walking down the road driving down the road slipping surfing on your slippy slipping on your slurvy Slurvy you have a slurvy in your hand And over your slurvy that's where all divine thoughts come from that's a dissepereth y'all Okay, if you if you're with your your slurvy and you have the thought you know what I'm gonna start encouraging people And you do your best in what you do is even show up to the teller and you just say hey, you know what? You're doing a great job and by that simple seed that you sow Isn't it amazing how much encouragement you get back all of a sudden? Isn't it amazing that the more encouragement we reap the more we will sow in return? So encouragement is a fundamental key. Here are some synonyms of encouragement is How about promoting? Encouraging mutual building free and safe encouragement creates an environment that you can come in and go on I Don't have to deal with the criticalness that I feel every day I don't have to deal with the skepticism and the unbelief that's around me all the time I can come in here and I can feel encouraged simply by the presence of the brother On the converse this curagement is to deprive of courage To take away hope or confident and to dishearten of this period to Discourage is actually the exact opposite of what God's come to do He's come to give us abundant life, which is an encouragement and oppressing forward and the enemy comes to discourage And then Discouragement is also defined to obstruct by opposition or difficulty To express or make clear disapproval So sit it in some discouragement are competitive demeaning jealous critical paranoid frightened unbelieving You see for us to endure the scripture says that we musting be encouraged by the scripture continually So I want to clearly describe you. How many do you need a little encouragement tonight? That was kind of a heavy response As a heavy response, okay, here's what I want to do tonight I want to go over two four ways that encouragement comes into our lives and then I'm gonna send you a bunch of homework This week great God So let's dig into Romans 15 verse four and I want us to look at this passage versus four to seven What we're doing again is we're looking at core ways that encourage me comes into our life How do you and I live a life? In my personal life Encouraged and how am I one to my family or my friends a person of encouragement? And how did I then come into a community that we would live encourage all the time? Verse four of Romans 15 says for everything that was written in the past was written to teach us So that through endurance and encouragement notice they're married Endurance and encouragement of the scriptures. We might have hope Notice that hope is a byproduct when endurance and encouragement from the word of God are married together How many of you need a little more confident expectation of good? Then you want to make sure that you're enduring okay, and also digging into the word of God minding the truth that it will always encourage and fill you up May the God who gives endurance notice that he gives endurance and Encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus Notice also that when you marry endurance and you marry Encouragement what you have is a spirit of unity starts to cultivate Now, how many of you have prayed the prayer God unified me in my my spouse me and in my the workplace How many of you prayed a unification prayer? Now I want to tell you that you're getting your prayers answered through the word of God right now you marry Encouragement along with endurance and a byproduct will be a spirit of unity Someone say that So that with one heart and one mouth you may glorify the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ One heart and one mouth and a in light of that encouragement and endurance except one another Then just as Christ has accepted you in order to bring praise to God Notice that in light of the encouragement and in light of your endurance Except one another as Christ has accepted you. How is Christ accepted you? Not only completely Without conditions There's absolutely no conditions. You see the word of God clearly says now accept it one another just as Jesus Christ accepted you Isn't that amazing when there's endurance and there's encouragement of the word of God what happens is there's such an acceptance of one another It's not about what you can do for me or what you can do for each other That's completely irrelevant to the concept of encouragement Encouragement is always about the other person. It's selling up and moving forward. It has nothing about what you can do for me To encouragement has nothing to do with you helping me assisting me having this backdoor thing That is not encouragement whatsoever Encouragement is selfless and will press another person forward and the word of God is always involved in growing the word of God Brings in encouraging and inspiring and build up. You know Titus 1 9 says this He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those We'll pose it the reality is this doctrine builds people up meaning the word of God builds people up It's one of them one of the many things that it does It blows your spirit if this mantles things that are of the world and it grows your spirit So you're more like Jesus. You're the the fragrance of Christ is just exuding off of you Imagine if we just endured and It was encouraged by the word of God all of the amazing things that would come from our lives How much we would know the Lord? Is that encouraging? That's just the first one First one is the word of God and it is one of the ways that it comes in our life But the second way is why I want to park a good Hebrew chapter 10 We spend a lot of time in Hebrews praise God How many of you have been reading a little bit Hebrews recently? Been hearing a lot more, you know, there's a church in town that they have a coffee shop called Hebrews Hebrews The spirit of wisdom, I believe that came up with that, okay? Hebrews 10 verse 19 Let's look at this because we're gonna go after the second core way that encouraging comes in our life. Therefore Hebrews 10 brother and having bulbous to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way Which he consecrated for us through the veil that is his flesh and having a high priest over the house of God Let us draw near everybody say draw near With the true heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts Sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water someone say Verse 23 is where I want us to look So let us hold fast the confession of our hope Without wavering for he who promised is faithful and let us consider one another in order to store up or stir up loving good words For for not forsaking the assembly of ourselves together as in the manner of some But exhorting one another and so much more as you see the day approaching Verse 23 says let us hold fast in light of what Jesus has done for us the confession of our hope Without wavering everybody say endurance Let us hold fast without wavering because of what Jesus Christ has done plant your feet Be resolute set your face like flint do not back down because the one that's inside of you is the overcomer and the victor Do not stand down stand up do not fall back press phone is what we hear and Let us consider one another in order to store up stir up loving good words Notice that it says and let us consider one another it literally means to contemplate one another Let us contemplate one another the only other real place that you see this consider is consider Jesus Christ Consider the high priest, but we see here that Hebrews is telling us to consider one another To contemplate one another to keep one another in mind To always have one another in an observation in a having an intelligent insight into in order to do what? stimulated in order to convulse them is the word for stir up in order to Insight them to such a frenzy to live for God To come and bring it and literally take the Holy Spirit and get inside of them It's a day and you keep going. You're doing a great job in the army. You're shining light. Don't hold back go To stir one another To love him good works to stir one another. This is not seen on this planet This does not happen Hebrews 10 is not a frequent thing and I got to tell you If you have it if you don't know this this is part of our original design part of our original design is a community how God has equipped us is to be fierce Encouragers and lover of what lovers of one another and then another person that would walk within our community Why because you will notice that it says because God is faithful and I'm not wavering and I'm gonna press forward And I'm gonna consider you and you're gonna consider me and we're gonna consider the lost And what we're gonna do is we're gonna stir each other up to loving good works. Now. You might be going well What is this all stirring thing? What's this whole? The stirring moment. What's the what's the stirring thing all about? It's a forceful impact is what the stirring up is these are there This is the original worry of stir up that we're to have a forceful impact on one another I want to ask you this when's the last time that someone had a forceful impact on you through words of life you encourage me When I asked you when was the last time you had a forceful impact? When you came up to someone and the Lord spoke to your heart and he said brother I got to give you a word. I want to encourage you and you went right into them And you said you've done well people whatever the word of the word and you can tell that they're feeding on You can see their physical demeanor change you can see them filled with life And you can see how that one word of encouragement can feed them for weeks for months Do we want to be a community that sits back and waits for people to encourage us or will we press in? I want to ask you will you press in with one another? I don't care what you're doing for ministry. I Don't it's not about ministry. This is about your relationship with Jesus and our relationships one with another and if we Look at loving one another and considering one another. I will tell you the fruit is just gonna keep falling off the trees like it is Not forsaking the assembly assembling of ourselves together as is the matter of some It's interesting that the enemy always wants us to stop assembling together Because that's where the discouragement. That's where the lightlessness That's where the depression sets in when we isolate he comes in houses So Hebrew says don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together as as so are in the habit of doing But absorb one another inspire one another Encourage one another to be faithful press them forward. Why because the day is coming Why because there is an eschatological reality That's why Jesus is coming back soon And he's coming back for a bride That is not sitting in some holy huddle go you encourage me all encourage you The reality is you look around this room and there are people all over this room Living in their gifting pressing forward the kingdom of God and You would you need to come into a community where there's encouragement and what it does you go back out? And when you go back out yours, you are something different than what you came in You might have been a little dark, but now your whole lot lighter Why because someone came up and encouraged you? You see the reality of encouragement is not some fluffy thing Romans 13 says this Flip over to Romans 13 Exorting one another as the day is approaching Romans 13 shows us the reality Do you know how many times in the epistles what we will see is is get ready? The nearest the end is near the end is near the end is near That's why you hear Adam come up and preach the end is here. We must go. There's a there's an urgency behind Everything that we do because you and I are not promised tomorrow If we can leave tonight and hear what I've exhorted you to do and not do it We're no different than the world If we can be a people knowing that tomorrow is not guaranteed, but not leave a minute out of here without exhorting Encouraging building each other up If we will be a people of action on this word, I promise you that they will change Stir and we don't feel the wind of God behind us More because the end is near don't take my word for it Look at Romans 13 verse 11 and do this knowing the time that now It is high time to awake out of sleep, which is like a lethargic non-aggressive lazy Christian life just for the record That's the original word. I wrote in my Bible. Take that. Okay, so now it says It's about high time to awake out of sleep which some people might need a little encouragement to get out of their sleep For now our salvation is here then when we first believe The night is far past and the day is at hand everybody say at hand Which means it's imminent. It's imminent the day is at hand So the reality is we do not want to be a people that come in here and hear what we need to absorb Encourage get ourselves into the word of God But then also then I just need to encourage my brothers here a little bit Then we would take it at face value and implement it in our lives look at Hebrews 3 as Our final passage to look at it. You doing all right? I like this topic Look at Hebrews 3 verse 12 And it says this Beware brethren less there be any of you any of you Bless there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief everybody say unbelief Unbelief is the arch nemesis of encouraging just for the record evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God But exhort or encourage one another how often? Daily why it is called what? Are you sure it doesn't say tomorrow? Are you sure it doesn't say like hey in a week from now? Are you sure it doesn't say when it's convenient for me? Are you sure that it doesn't say he says today? Exhort any encourage one another daily while it is called today Unless any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin listen to me Encouragement will protect you and I from becoming hardened to sin Is there anybody in here that has not tasted the reality of how sin hardens your the heart? Is there anyone in here that goes I just don't get that We all understand what it means when sin comes in and it starts to wait heavy on our hearts and the edge goes The passion goes And we find ourselves waking up sometime down the road going who am I? And what happened? Well, I must be a new friend. Well, I must need this new thing I must need and I start searching for all this different stuff And then I start leaving arenas and I start this wandering path You see to be a community that encourages is not only an offensive thing, but it's a defensive thing Encouragement where we have that become partakers of Christ If we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end You see it's not just for our friends, and it's not just for those are spouses But first Thessalonians 514 says it is for the lonely for the hurting and the destitute I Don't know if you've ever just sat down where we sit Taking a moment to turn everything off And God can go God. What does what is the cry in the city somewhere? What What are you here? I can't say that I have any factual proof, but I know I can just imagine The hearts Calling out I need Hell You seem to go out and Define the hurting the destitute. You know it'd be easy to encourage your friends and be easy to encourage those people that are often like you But God wants us to be encouragers at every Because we don't have time to waste So as a community We don't want we want to endure I want to tell you then secret ingredient of endurance the word is up If you're not on a bible reading plan in your it ends you the word about I'll send one to you this week We've had times in our house where things get so dark and We open the word of God and it's like two minutes later the lights which gets turned out to hold my word What just happened? the encouragement of the working Number two will we get a community to encourage one? fiercely forceful Some of you in here might have some encouragement to share with one another that you've had bottled up for some time. I Don't want to come by our moment. Okay turn your neighbor now What a lifestyle I'm asking more of you. I'm asking you to devote your life Not good, man. I was fun for church. I Want you to I want you to find each other in the city Here we go out there. I want this entire this entire body no matter what we're doing to be known as the fierce lovers that we're called to be in your feet Miss sent you further study this week so you can figure out more pillars of encouragement So good to have a band and I know it's going to take you a ton of time to get up there Isn't it fun to have a band? We need to get off our heels amen Just an amen, how many of you have found yourself back on your heels meaning it's been way too long of you genuinely encouraging another brother or sister It's quite just amen nice and loud. That's you Okay, let's get off of our heels right now Let's be a people so father. I thank you that you have called us to be a people that are moving forward We're moving forward in a great strength and a great vigor We're not enduring with hopelessness and defeat and discouragement in our heart The father we are a people that will endure with hope because we are living encouraged by the word of God And then we would be ones that have you constantly encouraging each other and we would receive encouragement and I want to tell you It's not flattery When I'm talking about nice shoes We're talking about you taking encouragement seriously and building one another up Me building you up you building me up the worship keep all of us No one is untouchable that we would be able to spend two minutes before the Lord and go God is there anyone that you would like to encourage today tomorrow this week? I want to be one that is encouraging and pressing things forward in Jesus name Let's do this together For those of us that are just finding ourselves a little bit on our heels a little bit on the defense You feel like there might be a little bit of a wall up. It's a good indication that sometimes. It's just that we're thinking about ourselves a lot Encouragement comes when we decide to get out of ourselves Discouragement comes when we look inside of ourselves I've never had a minute that I've looked inside of myself and been encouraged if that makes sense It's a dismal place to be on under a great God So we need to get out of ourselves. Are you ready to get out of yourself? Are you ready to be encouraged and ready to encourage other people? Amen Okay, so Lord. We just right now respond to you Father we want to come right now off of our heels. I want you to raise your hands to heaven I want you to tell the Lord. I'm coming off my heels Tell them I'm coming up my heels. I'm getting on my I'm getting all my toes once again Give them all self pity and defeat and all the things that cause us to be defensive and walled in Then we would be a community that would press forward There would be so much joy as a byproduct of enduring and encouraging one another That the word in the city would be all city central. I don't know anything else. All's I know is when they when you go in there You're encouraged and you're encouraged by the word of God. You're encouraged by people You're not just made to be make make it feel good Christian moment But you're literally encouraged as a voice for the Lord. You're building people people up there They build people up. They trade them they quit them and they go out and see them get saved again So tell the Lord. I'm gonna start encouraging Tell them I'm starting courage tell them right now. I want to know I want to know a person I want to know a person to encourage tell me Lord speak to my life speak to my heart right now Put someone on my mind that I can encourage that I can find before we leave out of you Maybe it's some of the parents that were up front here. Maybe it's a roommate that I've lost contact with Some of you need to spend some time making restitution with relationships that have fallen to the side Some of us need to reinstate friendships That we've just said oh, we've just got our separate ways But something is coming between you. I want you to take those people before the Lord this week Now what you'd encourage them? want you to build them up Because heaven is rejoicing over us. God is faithful and he's encouraging us and growing us in buildings So raise your hand one more time and then we'll let the worship team go to work father in Jesus name We just thank you right now for the word of God. I want to be one that endures Lord I want to be one that is encouraging. I want to be one that presses forward I want to see a spirit of unity. I want to see greater release of hope come I want to be that once the Lord Jesus. I pray that tonight you would do that special work Special work tonight and even as we worship tonight. I want you to take it before the Lord. I want you to even encourage the Lord You don't mean to encourage the Lord He's the praise and tell them all the amazing things that he's done. Maybe it's been a long time Since you just said man Lord, I just I love you that much And I love you you all these things about you. You're just that amazing Lord I am sort you for being yourself And I worship you for being yourself and even as we come into worship tonight May that be our heart cry in Jesus name and Lord even we just bless the offer and thank you Jesus How you abundantly have poured out on us how you continue to see to our needs Thank you that you're pouring out greater help Thank you that that there's reports of people getting healed and coming out of the sicknesses that are floating around Thank you. We're seeing people get healed and restored literally through prayer. Thank you that we're seeing great fruit of that So Lord bless the offering tonight We just give out of all that you've given us as the first prutes to you And we'll just allow the ushers to come and take that when you see fit in Jesus name amen You respond to the Lord to me [ Silence ]