Keep On Keeping On

Let's get into the word tonight and let's lift our bibles up and wave the Bible around and make Jesus glad, the devil mad.

Let's say this together, say Heavenly Father, I've tuned in tonight precisely because I'm hungry for more, more of your word, more of the Spirit.

Lord, I'm not satisfied with where I am.

I want to come up to the next level and I want to be able to accomplish what you've called me to do in Jesus' name, amen.

Let's turn in our bibles, please, to Acts, chapter 14.

Acts 14 · chapter mention

And we'll start reading with verse 19.

And this is Paul, and it says there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium who persuaded the people and, having stone, paul drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead.

Now, how be it?

As the disciples stood around about him, he rose up and came into the city and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derby.

And when they had preached the gospel to that city and had taught many my margin says made disciples of many, they returned again to Lystra and to Iconium and Antioch, confirming the souls of the disciples and exhorting them to continue in the faith and that we must, through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God.

And when they had ordained them elders at every church and had prayed with fasting.

They commended them to the Lord on whom they believed.

And so let me read you verse 22, talking about confirming the disciples.

I'll read it to you in the message Bible.

I like the message it says.

They put muscle and sinew in the lives of the disciples, urging them to stick with what they had begun to believe and not quit, making it clear to them that it wouldn't be easy.

Anyone signing up for the kingdom of God has to go through plenty of hard times, isn't that good?

And so tonight I wanted to share a message entitled Keep on Keepin' On, keep on Keepin' On.

You know, hard times come to all, and in fact Jesus put it this way In the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer or good courage.

I have overcome the world.

The implication is, you can too.

John 1633.

You know, when I first got saved, it just seemed like from what I was, hearing the word of faith for the first time and being taught the principles of faith.

It just seemed like all I needed to do was get more faith and I could just, you know, make sure that I aborted a whole lot of trouble.

Well, it's just about the opposite actually, because the devil always over, he always opposes revelation, knowledge.

And so, you know, hard times come to all All these.

You know all those distresses, trials, frustration, anguish, hardships, all of that accompanies entering into and continuing in the kingdom.

So you know, we've got to not be discouraged, we've got to keep on keeping on.

When things get tough, we just get tougher.

You know, much of Paul's preaching and teaching was such that he made disciples.

That seemed to be a large part of his ministry, not just merely getting people saved here and then moving on and getting another group of people saved.

He would hang around long enough to not only get them saved but to teach them long enough to make them disciples.

And then he says that he established and strengthened their souls.

He confirmed the souls.

See, their minds had to be stabilized, their minds had to be reprogrammed and they can't think like they used to think.

They can't think like the world and have victory.

They've got to begin to think the way God thinks.

They've got to be transformed by the renewing or the refreshing of their mind, because the world's way of thinking has to die, god's way of thinking has to be reinforced, and so that they can continue in the faith.

It's one thing to get saved.

I've seen a lot of people get saved and then I've seen them fall away.

I've seen them just kind of melt under pressure and give up and go back to the world.

It's just not the way it's supposed to be.

That's why we need to make disciples.

We don't just need to get people saved, we need to make disciples.

And so they had to be able to get through the hardships of life.

You know, I was reading a number of years ago.

There was a.

They had just discovered in modern medicine the tendency for obstetricians to push for C-sections for deliveries.

It's a lot more convenient for them.

They can play golf up until the particular day, they don't ever get a phone call in the middle of the night.

It's more convenient for mother, because mother can have a C-section, she doesn't have to go through labor, doesn't have to, you know, have a, something that's kind of open-ended.

And so you know, really in modern days there's been more tendencies toward having children this way.

If you've had a child that way, I'm not here to condemn you.

I'm just here to say what they've also discovered that it's better for the baby to come through the birth canal.

There's something about the trauma of delivery and labor that the baby is stronger on the other side of that whole experience.

And that's kind of the way it is with us.

I mean, we don't like the trials and tribulations, we don't look for them, but you know, when we go through them and we successfully overcome them, I'm gonna tell you we're stronger on the other side.

Amen, if we just keep on keeping on, that's the main thing.

Don't quit, just keep on keeping on.

And so, to that end, paul ordained elders in every city.

That word elder there came from the Greek presbyteros, which means senior.

And of course, when the church was first starting, the pastor the five fold ministry gifts.

You had the apostle, you had the prophets, you had the teacher, you had the evangelist, but the pastor was the last of the five fold gifts to manifest.

Why?

Well, because it took the longest to perfect.

The pastor is in many ways married to the saints.

They stay in one place and they don't travel around like the evangelist and the prophet and the apostle.

And so really, in the early church, the apostle was the pastor for a while, until he could ordain elders, and the elders were members of the five fold ministry.

All right, but they were usually men of age, men that had life experience, people that were mature emotionally, and that's who you wanted to be overseers.

The word presbyteros is a senior.

And then you had, in Acts 20, 28, talks about overseers.

The five fold ministry are overseers.

They take the oversight of the sheep.

First Peter, five, one through three.

Their job is to keep and to feed the flock of God.

They're supposed to watch over the flock.

So you know, I preached this way from time to time in order to, number one, to strengthen your spirit, but also to to renew your mind to God's truth and ensure that you don't quit when times get tough, but you just keep on keeping on.

I mean, just don't stop, don't stop believing God's word just because circumstances have turned against you.

You're equipped to overcome.

That's the whole motive of developing discipleship is to develop saints of God that are gonna overcome trouble and anguish and disappointment, all kinds of things that happen.

Now.

The devil's always trying to steal the word out of your heart.

He's always trying to bring you into a place.

He's always opposing the move of God in your life.

Well, keep on keeping on.

And so I have three things that we can find in the book of Hebrews tonight that will help you with that idea.

Three things in the book of Hebrews.

Let's turn first of all to Hebrews, chapter six, and we'll start reading verse 10.

And we'll get that first point here.

I wanna leave you something with, something that you can then you can use to help you if you're going through something.

Hebrews, chapter six, verse 10.

For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love which you have showed toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints and do minister, and we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until it gets too hard and then you just quit.

No, until the end.

Just keep on keeping on.

See that you be not slothful or lazy but be followers of them who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises.

So you know, point number one is is that you know faith and patience, that's what we're gonna have to have when we're going through tough times.

Don't just hang out to lunch, sign on your heart and shut yourself off from helping people.

You can help people while you're going through something.

You can help people.

You can lay hands on the sick, when you've got health issues.

You can encourage people when you're one that needs encouragement.

You know, sometimes you know I'm looking for somebody to pray for me.

I'm going through something, but you know, invariably God will put somebody in front of me that's worse off than I am and I start ministering to them and I get help.

You know he's not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, and so that's what it is.

It's a labor of love.

You know that's part of discipleship is being able to minister to other believers, encourage them when they're down, helping each other, encouraging each other, partnering with each other to accomplish something.

That's the kingdom business.

It takes more than one person to do.

You've got to.

You know we've all got a band together and so to keep on keeping on.

You know I've seen people going through trouble and they just want to resign from everything.

They want to pull back from everything.

Well, you know there could be a time when you need to do that.

If you've got a particularly serious health issue and you're going through treatments and all that.

Well, I'm not against people taking a break and stepping back until they can feel stronger physically to do the job.

But other than that I mean, if it's just mental, if it's just those kinds of things.

You know, just keep pressing in, keep on keeping on.

Don't let the devil see you sweat.

All right, and then chapter 10.

This is a great one.

I love this verse, verse 35.

Cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward, for you have need of what patience that, after you've done the will of God, you might receive the promise.

So you know, the promise hasn't Manifested yet.

So don't give up, just keep on keeping on, have patience.

Don't cast away your confidence, your confidence.

There is really a.

The Greek word is all outspoken.

This, it means being bold in the time of trouble.

I mean, again, I've seen the tendency for people is, when they're going through a trial, they shut their mouth and they don't brag on God, they don't testify, they don't.

You know they kind of just Don't say much.

You know they're just kind of quiet.

No, let's be on, let's, let's not cast away our all outspoken.

It's, now's the time to talk about how great God is and how wonderful Jesus is, what a faithful Healer he is.

They've been all those things.

Keep on doing God's will for your life.

You know just it did.

You know a Trouble never lasts.

You know it never lasts, it always ends.

So just keep on keeping on.

And then the last one is found over in Hebrews 12, and it gives you another idea here, verse one wherefore seeing we are compassed about was so great a cloud of witnesses.

I was reading this, you know, earlier today and I was thinking about my brother.

You know, this time last week he was on earth and right now he's one of these cloud of witnesses.

He went up to heaven.

He's sitting in the grandstands up there.

He just got there.

It's amazing.

Let us lay aside Every weight and the sin with just so easily beset us, and let us run, with what patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

For consider him and remember him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your mind.

See, this is where the devil is going to try to wear you out.

He comes in the last days.

The Bible says to wear out the saints.

In the book of Daniel.

It talks about the devil in the last days trying to wear out the saints.

He'll try to get you exhausted in your mind.

And so, listen, we just got to have patience.

We've got to run the race that is set before us.

It's not a speed race, it's an endurance race.

Run, run with patience, or run with endurance the race that is set before us.

In other words, keep on running, keep on keeping on.

You don't stop, you just keep on running.

Well, I know, maybe I need to slow down.

Well, just keep your pace up.

Don't let the devil see you sweat, and so we can run with patience and endurance.

Our race, you see, it's not somebody else's race, it's your race.

We're not in competition with anybody, but we're running that race.

What To win?

We are running with priority.

And what are the?

What are the hindrances?

Well, he says weights and sin.

He said lay them aside.

See, it is not a big deal, just lay it aside.

And the, the, the, he's kind of showing you what.

What runners did back in in the days when the Greeks had the games.

You know, paul was an educated man, he, he lived in the time of the precursor to the Olympics.

And and when you, when you ran a race, you'd lay aside your garments.

You'd lay aside and get, get as light as possible.

You didn't want some long flowing robe getting in the way of your legs as they're turning around the running track.

You know you're, you're going to, you're going to, you're going to get tangled up.

If you've got too much stuff, they lay aside the weights.

What's a weight?

It's something that's not sin, but it's something that you're involved with.

It really has.

No, it may have at one time been a good thing.

It may have been something that God wanted you to do at some point in time, but now it's no longer necessary.

I think about it.

In my life I got a lot out of an organization called full gospel businessmen.

I kind of had a two track discipleship program.

I was faithful at Lakewood, but then on the other side of that I had this para church ministry called full gospel business and fellowship international.

I eventually got to be president.

It took, you know, pretty good amount of my time and I had time in both.

I had time at Lakewood to do things there and I had time on full gospel to do things there, and I at one point I was traveling, given my testimony, I was singing it in meetings while other people preached and so forth and so on.

And there came a time in my life when I moved back to Houston from Corpus and they called me in my old chapter and said, oh, john, we need you, would you be our president?

Again, I said well, I, and nothing in me wanted to do it.

I said, well, no, I just need, let me just pray about it.

I'm not sure I'm the man.

And when I prayed about it, god gave me no and no, under certain terms.

He said I'm done with that.

That's the weight.

I want you not to get involved.

In fact, I don't want you giving your testimony there, I don't want you ministering there.

I want you to walk where I tell you to walk.

And so I committed more at Lakewood and not at all at full gospel or something wrong with full gospel.

No, it wasn't God's plan for my life.

So what was God's plan became a weight.

So sometimes you know waits again, it's not a reflection on the activity, it's not wrong in and of itself, it's just not God's plan.

That would be a weight.

And of course we know what sin is.

Usually it's about lacking in love.

Let's lay aside pride, less, less side, you know, jealousy and all that competition.

That's more of the sin that's easily ignored sometimes if we're not careful.

So lay it aside and run with patience and endurance the race.

It is set before you.

In other words, keep on keeping on and your reward is great.

Great is your reward and we're not doing it for the reward, but we have it coming.

See, payday is coming for you and payback is coming for the devil.

So just keep on keeping on.

Let's lift our hands and receive tonight.

I hope that gave got you some encouragement to not quit, not to give up and not shut yourself alone, away from people when you're going through things.

That's when we need to press in even further.

Amen, praise God.