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Saturday, February 2, 2008
Fortitude Pastor Tan, 2 Feb 08 What is Fortitude?
- 2 Cor 6:4-6
- Fortitude is the strength of mind that enables a person to encounter danger or bear pain and adversity with courage.
- Simply put, fortitude is endurance. When the Bible says that we require Faith and Patience, fortitude is that patience.
- 2 Cor 6:4-6 (NLT): "true ministers of God"
- 2 Tim 3:10: "I never give up"
- God has given us big plans and dreams, we cannot be quitters, we have to have fortitude in our lives! That is how we show ourselves to be true servants of God.
- "Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" - Winston Churchill
- "I am not called to be successful. I am called to be faithful." - Mother Teresa
- God has called us to be faithful, especially in our faith!
- A Champion is not someone who never fails; A Champion is someone who never gives up!
How then do we increase fortitude in our lives?
E-N-D-U-R-E!
1. Embrace God's purpose in that situation
- When you go through difficulty, ask yourself: For what purpose is God allowing me to go through it?
- 1 Peter 1:7
- Trials are in place to test your faith - Is your faith pure?
- What is God's purpose? YOU! Your faith, your character, your salvation!
- Once you find God's purpose, it will be greater than the trials you are facing in your life.
- Trials train our faith muscles so that we will be saved right to the end.
- James 1:3-4: "endurance" --> "mature and complete"
- Thus, our lives have a meaning and focus!
- Let's trust in God, in His heart, knowing that He will never let me down
- Romans 5:3: "rejoice" --> "endurance" --> "develop character"
- We don't rejoice about the problem. We rejoice in what the problem can develop in us.
2. Nurturing your spiritual roots
- Mark 4:17 (The parable of the Sower - The 4 different types of heart)
- (CEV) "as soon as life gets hard or the message gets them in trouble, they give up"
- (Mes) "shallow soil of character"
- We need to have a compass in life - something to trust in even if my gut feeling says otherwise. What is our compass? The Bible!
- Luke 8:15
- Romans 15:4
- What is the significance of the Bible? For us to receive patience (=endurance) and comfort (=encouragement).
- We will have victory eventually! Victory with patience!
3. Direct our attention to Jesus Christ (God)
- If when in trouble we look to the world, we will be in distress. If we look to ourselves, we will be depressed. If we look at God, we will be at rest.
- The more we look at God, how BIG He is, the smaller our problem is.
- Hebrews 12:2: "fix our eyes on Jesus"
- Jesus looked beyond the cross to see the purpose of God. This was how He managed to endure the cross and the shame.
- Testimony of Neivelle Tan.
4. Use your experience to help others
- God doesn't waste our experiences, both good or bad.
- 2 Cor 1:6-7: "we in turn can be an encouragement to you"
- Our greatest life message come out from our weaknesses.
- 2 Tim 2:1o: "willing to endure anything"
4. Rely on God's power
- We are not able to make it on our own power.
- God has not meant for us to go through life using only our own strength either.
- "for I will overcome the world"
- Col 1:11
- Romans 12:12: "don't quit in hard times, pray all the more harder".
5. Expect God to bless you
- To give you a breakthrough. After all, the Gospel is GOOD News!
- Similarly, our lives will end off positive!
- James 1:12
- James 5:11
- Job
- By our faith, we determine how much God can do for us in difficult times.
- Hebrews 10:36
Let's end with a story! From here. When the winner crossed the finish line in the 1968 Mexico City Olympic marathon, officials thought the race was over. Then, an hour later, John Stephen Akhwari, a runner from Tanzania, entered the stadium. Bloodied and bandaged from a fall, he limped painfully with every step. As Akhwari made his way around the track, the crowd began to cheer loudly. When he crossed the finish line, you would have thought by the roar of the crowd that Akhwari had been the victor. Later, when asked why he had not dropped out, Akhwari replied, "I don't think you understand. My country did not send me to start the race. They sent me to finish the race." At the end of the race, you'll then be able to say like Paul did of old: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day" (2 Timothy 4:7-8). ________________________________________________________________
C'mon people! Let's continue to run with endurance the race that is set before us! Let us not, like what Pastor Tan says, one day say: I was ONCE a Christian. I ONCE went to church. Let us not forget the God of our youth. Have you seen those old people sitting in service, still rocking to our contemporary praise songs? Let us be like them! Old, funky and still on fire!
Also, I think there will be a tendency for people to read to the end of this sermon and only remember the words "Expect God to bless you" in their minds, because we only want God to bless bless bless us. But let us remember all the E-N-D-U-R-E points when we are going through hard times. Even if it is not applicable to you now, I hope that by typing and organising this sermon into something that is more reader-friendly, you know that you can fall back on the archives for Bible-tried-and-tested outlooks into your situation.
If you are facing a time of difficulty or disappointments in your work, or in school, E256 would love to pray for you. Post COMMENTS or just post a new post. Because if there is one thing I can give to you other than a listening ear (and Pei En's 24/7 Hotline), it would be my time spent on praying for you. :)
P.S. MICHELLE can you do me TWO favours: Activate comments (tried but I don't see a link) and do up a category thingy to chuck all the sermons into. Xie le! Labels: Saturday, Sermons
Leaving a foot step - 9:29 PM
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