If there's so many things in our life that we can't control, we think we have this control over things, but really and truly we don't have that control. God has that control. And so as we go into these times in our lives, we seek out God, we pray to Him, we give it all over to Him and let Him have His way with us. Let Him have His way in every situation. Today I want to talk about faith, field, endurance. Faith, field, endurance. I'll be in 2 Timothy, I'll be in 2 Timothy, chapter 4, verses 6 through 8, 2 Timothy, chapter 4, verses 6 through 8, 2nd Timothy, chapter 4, verses 6 through 8. So endurance, I asked the children, "What does that mean?" They said, "I heard of it, but I don't really know." So now I ask you to think about this, "What does endurance mean to you?" For some you may have been an athlete in school and and so the training that you've had to do in order to make the run or pass the ball or shoot the basket or whatever you're familiar with that. For some maybe you've been in the military and when they told you we're going to go on this run and you get to the where you think is the end and we keep going you're familiar with endurance. All the things that happen maybe you're familiar that, but are you familiar with the endurance in living your life for Christ? That takes endurance. So what do you mean that takes endurance? Preach or I mean we just, we're going to follow Him, we're going to do all of those things. Yeah? But I want you to think about something. There are more products than you can count sold in this world to give you endurance. Endurance for being able to work out endurance for being able to stand endurance for being able to speak endurance for all these different things. They have all these products that they sell to give you more endurance because everything that we go through as a human being requires that we push through, it's hard. Just being human beings, hard stuff. There's a lot of things that we do in life. Listen, for many of you out there today, you have to have endurance just to get out of bed in the morning. Amen? It's a hard thing sometimes. There's things that go on in our life and so endurance is something that we need to work on. What is endurance? The children tried to give me a definition. They weren't really sure. Here's what the dictionary says. Endurance is to withstand hardship, pain or stress without giving up. To withstand hardship, pain or stress without giving up. That's what endurance is. It's anybody out here ever experienced hardship. Pain, stress, it's all there. We've all experienced all of those things. So endurance is to experience these things without giving up, without giving up. Because as we give up, then we give in. We give in how are we going to do the things that we're called to do? As a believer in Jesus, why do we need endurance? Why do we need endurance? We know about these physical things. Why do we need endurance? We know about these physical things, why do we need endurance as a believer in Jesus? Well, Second Timothy tells us, I told you before, we're doing six through eight, but really we're going to do three through eight. So Second Timothy three through eight, it says this, "For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers and accordance with their own desires, and they will turn their ears away from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But as for you, use self-restraint and all things. In viewer hardships, do the work of an evangelist fulfill your ministry. For I'm already being poured out as a drink offering in the time of my departure has come. I have found the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. In the future there is reserved 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 have loved his appearing. This passage is Paul talking to Timothy. This Paul talking to Timothy and he's sending Timothy out and he's telling him about these things and he's telling him to preach the word. Earlier in that passage he says, "Preach the word, he's telling him to preach." He's telling him all these things that are going on. That time that was talked about in this passage, it's still right now. It's still right now. People seek out things that they they like to hear. They seek out things that make them feel good. They think they seek out things that do not put them in a position where they feel uncomfortable. When Jesus came to this earth, He made everybody feel uncomfortable. Why did He make them feel uncomfortable? Because they recognize through Him the sins in their life. They recognized through Him the things in their life that was not right. They recognized that Jesus was the Son of God. And when He came, everything was uncomfortable. Suddenly, they had to strive to do things. They began to realize that there was more that had to be done. In this passage, what's happened in this world, and we know it's in this world today, that people said I don't want that I want something that's easy I want to do something that's easy I want something that sounds good to me I want to do something that makes me feel good when I go there are plenty of places you could go on a Sunday morning where someone will stand up and tell you all the things you want to hear, and when you walk out of the building, you'll feel so great about yourself. The problem is they've never once asked you to look at yourself and see, "Do you have sin in your life?" They've never once told you that you know what, if you don't know Jesus as Lord and Savior, you're going to spend an eternity in hell. They've never once said, "God calls you to work for Him all the way through your life until you step into glory." They've never once said any of those things, so you leave feeling so wonderful and so good. The problem is the truth has not been told. The problem is that you're soft because anytime you face any hardship or endurance, you don't want it. And so people just turn away from it. Sometimes we have to do those things. You're trying to recover from something, maybe knee surgery. You say, "Doc, when I do this it hurts." And he said, "Don't do that then." Don't do that. But sometimes he said, "When I do this it's painful." He says, "Well, does it hurt or is it painful?" Is it really injuring you or is it just painful because you haven't done it? If it's just painful because you haven't done it, then push through and it's going to get better. And so we struggle with that sometimes in our Christian walk to look around and see that the world has come to a place where we won't our ears tickled. Don't you think about this? Think about how much Paul suffered. That was nothing compared to what Jesus suffered, but think about how much Paul suffered. And all the things that he did, he was living a life where he was thrown into prison. He was living a life where he was run out of town. He was living a life where all of the things that was going on, he suffered, he came to a point where everything that happened, people did not want to hear it. Yet he still continued to endure and to speak the truth and to share the gospel with the people that would hear. He shared the gospel with the people that didn't want to hear. He continued to work, even though it was hard. It was hard. All of the things he went through, listen, he went through some rough times. When he went from one place to another, he didn't just call it Uber, right? Drive to the next place. He didn't stay in a five-star hotel. He didn't go out to an auditorium that was, had lights and sound and everybody was so glad he was there. He traveled by foot or maybe on a horse or maybe some way like that. He traveled by boat to a lot of places and the boats that he traveled on were not luxury liners. He was thrown onto a cargo ship or a fishing vessel that just happened to give him passage to the next place where he was required to work while he was on the boat for his passage. And he had to get there that way when he walked into the town a lot of us people didn't want to see him there. He walked in and started telling them about Jesus they didn't want to hear about that Jesus and he wanted him to be there they wanted to get rid of him but he went anyway he went into places where he knew he was not going to be welcome but he went there to tell people about Jesus think about how much Paul suffered. It would have been very easy for Him to simply turn away from that suffering. It would have been very simple. He could have just said, "Yeah, this is too much. It's too much. I'm not doing it anymore." I'm not going to those places that don't want me. I'll just go where they want to hear it. I'm not going to travel there if I have to travel in that harsh condition. I'm not going to put myself in those situations where I'm going against the Roman government. I'm not doing these things. I'm just not going to do it. I'm going to take it easy. After all, I'm a Pharisee. A Pharisees. I'm learned beyond everybody else. I've earned my position and so I'm not going to do all of that. He could have said that. He could have said, "You know what God, I've been doing this for a long time now. I've been battered. I've been bruised. I've been rejected. I've been hungry." I've been without sleep, I've been in all these situations and I've just had enough. And so I'm done. I've had enough, I'm done. It would have been easy for him to turn away from the suffering that he was facing on a daily basis. But he didn't do that. He didn't do that. We're going to be easy if it was today for us. It would be easy to simply follow the path of least resistance. I mean, for us today we can easily follow the path of least resistance. We can just say, well, we know these people agree with us and so we're going to do what they want. We're going to come together in this group of people and we're all going to celebrate and do things. If they don't like it, they can just stay out there and we don't want anything to do with them. We can follow that path that doesn't have much resistance and don't say the name Jesus in public because somebody might not get mad. We could simply keep it to ourselves and not really share it with anyone else because you know that might cause a problem. People might get angry. People might dislike me because I use that name Jesus. They might call me a hater because I say that sin is punishable by death and eternal hellfire. They might hate me because I say there's only one way to heaven that's through Jesus. All these things are scriptural. It's what the Bible tells us. But if I say it, they might not like it. And I don't want people to dislike me. So I'll just follow the easy path and keep it to myself. I won't share that with anyone else because I might lose friends. It's important for me to have friends. I don't want to lose my friends. I don't want to go through these hard times. I don't want to do that. It would be easy for us to do that. That's know what Paul did. That's not what God calls us to do. He doesn't tell us to follow the easy path. Look at verse 5. Verse 5 said, "But as for you," Paul talking to Timothy, "You self-restraint and all things in do your hardship. Do the work of an evangelist fulfill your ministry. Do it all. Don't turn away. Don't follow the easy path. Don't step back and say, "Well, maybe somebody else will do it. But go through even though it's hard, even though it's hard. I remember in high school and we're out in the summertime doing summer practice for football. Man, it's hard. And we've been practicing and now it's time to run sprints. I never could figure out why we had to run after we'd already been practicing for hours and now we have to get out here and run. I had to run these sprints and if we didn't run fast enough the coach would say not good enough do it again. We'd be over there coach we need some water. We're hot we're about to get too hot. Can we just get a drink of water? He said, "You can't have water. You hadn't earned it." Of course they figured out later that was a bad idea. But they would run. And we just keep digging and finding away until finally we would make that run and the coach would finally say, "Well that was better. Still not perfect. But we'll quit for today. And we barely could get off the football field. We were so worn out. When we came back the next day, we knew what he did to us. We knew how hard it was. But yet the next day we came back and said, "We're here ready to do it again. Why?" What he put us through, the things that we did, how hard it was, we barely made it home. We woke up in the middle of the night with cramps. We had all this hard time, but we showed up the next day, ready to do it again. Why? Because we knew that if we kept doing it, eventually we'd get better. We knew that it was something of gold, we wanted to accomplish and we kept showing up. Yet Christians will go through one hard time and give up. Why don't we show back up the next day? Why don't we go back again and try? Why don't we reach to somebody that we've talked to before and ask them again? Why don't we do those things? Oh, I already tried it once. Some of the same people that went through all the things in sports or the military or whatever, and they've been through all these hard times and they kept going because they knew they would get better. Yet one time they tell somebody about Jesus and they say, "I don't believe that." Okay, I'll give up. I'll give up. I've been teaching for having many years and now I'm just tired, I give up. All these things that are going on in the world just doesn't really want to see Jesus anymore, I give up. I'm just not going to do it anymore. I give up. We must endure. so we can carry the gospel to all. We must endure so we can carry the gospel to all. I always think about it like this. What if the person that told me about Jesus had given up before they told me? Maybe I never knew. Maybe I never found out. Maybe I never was told about Jesus and I never accepted Him. Scripture is very clear about that. If you don't know Him and you've never given your life to Him, then the sin that you've committed you still pay the price for. What if someone, the person that shared the gospel with me, was tired? What if they decided it's too much and they gave up and they just didn't want to tell anybody else? Then I wouldn't know. Guess what neither would you if the person that told you decided to give up. We must endure in order to carry the gospel to all. Well some people just don't want to hear it, Brother George. I know there's a lot of people. They don't want to hear it. You know what we do about that? We pray and we go tell them again. Because we can't make them receive it, but through prayer God can open their eyes and He can soften their heart and He can prepare them to receive the gospel. We can't force it upon them only through God can they receive it. When God prepares their heart, then they can receive it. But He still wants us to go and tell. He still wants us to go and tell. There's no word in Scripture that says go one time and if they reject it walk away." It doesn't say that. It says, "Tell them." Keep telling them. There's nothing that says, "There's a number of times that you do it and then stop." It just says, "Share the gospel." We're supposed to go and tell. Go and make disciples of all nations. Go and tell. Well, they didn't like it. Okay. Go tell them again. Go tell them again. Go tell them again. Who's that? Verse six. I'm already being poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departure has come. I'm already being poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departure has come. Paul is saying to Timothy, listen, my time is coming to an end. I've worked, I'm continuing to work. I'm even working right now pouring into you but my time is coming to an end and I cannot continue. But instead of saying, well I'm already being poured out and my time is coming to an end." So I'm just going to quit. No, he's pouring into Timothy right now with everything he's got left. He's pouring into Timothy. He's saying Timothy, preach the Word. Timothy, tell people, Timothy, endure the hardships. Timothy, take the gospel to all people. I'll tell you about my experience. I'll share with you the things that I've done. You've seen me. You've been with me in many situations. Continue Timothy. I'm going to continue to pour into you while I am already being poured out as a drink offering. My time of departure has come. I'm very much nearing the end of my life, but I'm gonna continue to pour into you with everything I've got until that time comes. He's continuing to tell Timmy that's why he's writing this letter right now. He's not giving up. He just knows that his time is coming to an end. Look at verse 7, "I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith." Timothy, I've done this. I have fought this fight. Look at me. I've fought this fight. I've finished the course that God had for me in this life. Timothy, you still have a course to finish. You still have a race to run. You still have the things that need to be accomplished. I've finished the race. I have gotten to that point. God's about to call me home, and I have done what He called me to do while I was here. I've done everything I could to make that happen. Now you do the same. I have kept the faith. I kept the faith, Timothy, even in all of the hardship, even in all the things that I went through, even in all the pain and the suffering, and everything that I did, I kept the faith and I'm urging you to do the same. He's pouring everything he's got left into Timothy to continue to carry the gospel. to continue that fight. I may not have any left, but you continue the fight. Continue the fight. Continue to take it to the people. Continue to live that life. Even though there's going to be pain. Even though there's going to be suffering. Even though you're going to have to endure these things. I need you to keep on doing it because my time is coming to an end. For many of you here today, you may be like Paul. Each day you thank God for another day but you wonder how many more. You know that you have less time ahead of you than you already have behind you. You don't know when. I've talked to many people who said, I pray every day, God, why do you keep me here? I don't feel like I can do anything else for you. Everything hurts. I have a hard else for you. Everything hurts. I have a hard time doing anything. Why am I still here? But yet they wake up each day. Why? God still has something for them. Many of you today may be like Paul, understanding. You're coming to the end of this earthly life. It's okay. That's human nature. You're coming to an end. You've spent the years that you have on this earth. You already know that these bodies that God gave us. He did it in ten for them to last forever on this earth. He said it is pointed unto man once to die. We know we're gonna come to that. But don't give up. Don't stop. Just because you're coming to an end. Don't stop. Paul was continuing to pour into Timothy, even though he knew that his time was approaching. You know you are approaching the end of your work here for many of you that are in this place. For maybe some of you who are online listening today, you know that you are approaching the end of your work here. You already know that. There may be some that have been told by a doctor. You only have this much time left, but the doctor's not in charge. Don't know how much longer you've got. There may be some that say, "Well, I know that all my My bodily functions are or stopping me And so I don't have much time left, but you still have time. Paul continued to pour into Timothy until the end. He continued to do what he could, even though he couldn't go out into the highways and the byways and reach people at that time. He could pour into somebody else. He could help them to continue the work that God had placed in him. He could give them what they needed to endure. He could help them see the faith that they needed, that if they were full of faith, that anything is possible, and that endurance that they need is faith filled. Listen for those of you that fill that way today. You aren't done yet. You're still here. You're still here, not only are you still here in this world, you're still here today. That means that God gave you enough strength to get out of the bed, put on your clothes, get yourself here, and sit in this pew and listen to his Word. Why? So you could hear that you're not done yet. So that you could understand there's still more work to do. But preacher you don't understand. I just can't do the things like I used to do. Okay? I can't do things like I used to do either, but I can do other things. I can do other things. Can you talk to people? I haven't run into anybody here or any person that I know that's involved in the ministry at all that says I can't talk. Can you talk to people? Do you know how to use a phone most of them have one with you right now? Do you know how to share with other people the things you've experienced in life? One of the greatest things for me, one of the greatest things for me was I had a project in school to talk about the Great Depression. And they said, "For many of you, your grandparents lived through it, maybe you can interview them. They could tell you the things they experienced when they went through the Great Depression." Went to my grandfather. He told me about it. He said, "No." He said, "I can't do it. Look at it, you." But give me that tight recorder. Those of you that are under 50, that was a machine we put a cassette to. tape in and hit record. We put that tape in and he said, "Give me the recorder and I'll do what I can." I thought he might be gone 20 minutes or so. It was hours. He was gone. He finally came back and he gave it to me. He said, "Don't listen to it now. Listen to it later. But thank you. Let me tell you these things. I want you to hear it. I sat down later that night and I began to listen. All I could do is cry. The hardships that he endured, not knowing if he was going to have a meal, jumping on a freight train to make it to the next city because there was no work left there going to work somewhere and sending every penny that he made back home so that his family would have money to buy food while he scrounged up garbage or hope to find someone who would give him a meal. All the things that he went through and he endured and he said and all of that stuff that he went through he never gave up faith in God and although he wasn't living the life that he was supposed to at that time, he knew God was the one that brought him through. And he said, "I want you to know these things because as you go through hard times in your life, I want you to know that God can do anything." That was one of the greatest gifts that he ever gave me is he poured into me the things that he went through to help strengthen me and my walk, to help strengthen me to be able to reach other people, to understand that people go through so many things yet they still need to know Jesus no matter what's going on. How was Paul able to endure such suffering? How was he able to endure such suffering? Well, he told us in 2 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 9. 2 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 9, he said this. And he has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly therefore I will rather boast about my weakness so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. How was Paul able to go through all of those hardships, all of those suffering, all the things that he went through, how was he able to do that and continue on? Because he prayed. This passage is when he asked God to remove the thorn of his flesh and God said, "No, my grace is sufficient for you." Sometimes we say, "God, I don't want to go through that. I don't want to do that. I don't want to have these hard times in life." And God says, "No, my grace is sufficient for you. My grace is sufficient. You can get through it with me. I need you to go through it. I need you to humble yourself and go through this and understand that it's my strength that gets you through and not yours." Too many times we think it's all about us. It's our strength and the things that we can do, it's not about us at all, it's about doing all things through Christ who strengthens us. The endurance that we seek, it doesn't come from within. It comes from above. Today, perhaps, you are reaching the finish line. Maybe you know that. You already just know you're reaching the finish line. You say, "I've run the race, preacher. I fought the good fight, but I'm coming to the end. I know that I'm coming to the end. I know that I'm coming to the end. Perhaps that's you today. Pass the torch. Pass the torch. Take that time that you have left and pour into someone. Pour into someone that still has time left. Pour into others within the church. Pour into others in your family. Pour into other believers and share with them. Listen, it's not easy. But God will bring you through. I suspect if today I went to each person here that's over 70 years old. I said, "Listen, won't you tell me about your life? Just sit down and tell me about the hard times you've been through. Tell me about the joys in your life. Tell me about your life. what kept you going. Tell me about how you got to where you are now. I suspect that most everyone of you in here would do exactly the same thing that my grandfather did. And as you poured that out and recorded it for someone else, it would give them strength knowing that you made it through those hard times and how you made it through those hard times. For some of you you say, "I'm here today not because I trusted God through the hard times but because God brought me through the hard times in spite of myself and then saved my soul. God brought me through and then I was saved. Many people don't have the testimony of saying, "I accepted Jesus Christ at 10 years old." And so he brought me through all of these things. For many people you say, "No, listen, I was an adult. I was many years into my adult life doing all the things that were wrong and doing all the things I knew wasn't right and living a dangerous life and somehow God brought me through and one day he said, "Open your eyes." And I accepted Jesus. He saved me despite all these things that I had done. There's no maximum age by the way. If you reach 85, it's not too late. There's no minimum age either. It's the age that you're old enough to understand you need a savior. That's different for different people. Perhaps you're reaching the end of this fight, the finish line of this race. Pass the torch. Don't just wait for the end to come. Do all that you can right now. Pass the torch. Share the gospel with people around you. Meaning if you have great grandchildren, share the gospel with them. Pass it on in your family. Pass it on in your family, pass it on in your church, spend time sharing it with others, pour it into others while you still have time. Because it's the faith that fills you with the endurance of Christ. Faith, that's what fills you. There's no magic pill to take. There's no magic drink to drink. There's no special thing that you got to do so many times and eventually you'll be filled with faith. You'll be filled with endurance. It's faith. It's faith. That faith is what gives you the endurance. Faith in Jesus Christ. Faith in believing that He's the one that said, "I will never leave you for faith, you." Faith, that He's the one that said, "I will go through it with you." Faith, that He's the one that said, "There's no way to the Father except through the Son. That faith will give you the endurance to go through those times even when they're hard." He says, "Don't fear the one that takes away the soul. The faith is what fills you with endurance. It's what gets you through that next step. It's what brings you over that next hurdle. It's what keeps you going in life when you have that faith and trust that you know what? I'm still here. I'm still breathing. I know that God still has something for me and so I want to continue that fight I want to continue running that race because I may see the finish line but I hadn't crossed it yet I still have things to do we all need to continue to endure you see at any age a person can decide, "I've done enough." I've done enough. I've met people in their 40s and 50s that say, "I've done this and I've done this and I've done this and I've done this and it's time for somebody else to do it." Okay, why are you stopping? If you've done all of these things, you have all that experience that you can pass on that you can share, why are you stopping? If you've done all of these things, you have all that experience that you can pass on, that you can share. Why are you stopping now? I'm tired. Okay, you think Jesus was tired when they put him up on that tree? You think Jesus was tired when he made that walk with the cross on his back? You think Jesus was tired when all the people turned against him and shouted, "Crucify him!" But He continued. And He calls us to do the same. We all need to continue to endure. Yes, it gets hard. Yes, we live in a world right now that says, "No to Jesus." Continually more and more, there are more people that say they do not believe. There are more people that say, "I believe there might be something, but I don't ascribe to that religion." There are many people that say, "I just can't." Why? Because there's not enough people telling them why they need to. There's not enough people showing them the gospel. There's not enough people living in front of them. We all need to continue to endure. Look at verse 8. For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine. But wanting to have their ears tickled. That's first three. Verse 8, "In the future there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which is the Lord. The righteous judge will award to me on that day and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. Why is Paul able to endure? Why is it that he gives to that point? He says, I know that my time is coming to an end. I want to pass it all on to you. I'm continuing to go until such time as I step into glory. Why is he able to do that? Because he understands that he's going to step in front of the righteous judge. He's going to receive that crown. God's going to give him. Well done, my good and faithful servant. He understands that he's going to continue this race. He's going to continue to do everything he needs to do for as long as he can until one day he steps into glory. And when he steps into glory it's for all eternity. No more pain, no more suffering, none of that. He'll be with the one that he's been telling people about for all that time. He's ready and he's still working to make sure others come to know him. Listen, Paul, that came true. For all that trust him, the crown awaits. The crown awaits. For all that trust him, for all who call him Lord, for all who serve him, the crown awaits us. If you're still here, you're not ready for it yet. We still need to endure all things for him. We need to endure the hardships now and accept the crown when we step into glory. Endure the hardships now. You know, I don't know maybe technology and all of the things that we have in life these days have made us soft. My football coach used to say that drinking too much water made me soft, even though there are people falling out all around me. My drilling instructor, my basic training drill sergeant said that if you don't do the work you get soft. We live in a society right now where, as they would say, we're soft. The first sign of trouble we want to quit. The first moment that it gets hard, we want to give up. The first time that somebody rejects us, we want to run away. We need to run the race to finish. We need that faith-filled endurance like Paul had, like he passed on to Timothy, and Timothy continued to pass on. That we read the Scriptures and all the great men of the Bible that we read and we see what they went through and yet they still continued and we can look back now at their struggles and their hard times and we can see that God brought them through and He wants to do the same for us. Transcribed by https://soundwise.ai