A Better Endurance - August 9, 2026

It is my privilege to invite you to today's sermon podcast. I have made the

Apostle Paul's prayer request my own.

When he states in Ephesians 6, 19, pray also for me, that whenever I open my

mouth, the words may be given to me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel.

May today's sermon come alive to you and aid you in your understanding of God's plan for your life.

Have you ever felt like giving up? Have you ever felt like giving up and realized

that that was the very moment that you had to push through?

The year was December, or the month was December. The year was 1914.

The place was Great Britain. World War I was just getting underway,

and there was a ship that wanted to go, and they wanted to help the cause and

fight in this world conflict.

However, they had something else in mind that they wanted to do and that the

British government really wanted them to do, and that was in the exploration route.

They wanted them to find a route to the South Pole across the continent there.

And so this was kind of the big thing in this time in world history.

And so Ernest Shackleton and the crew of HMS Endurance left for Antarctica.

Shortly after they arrived in Antarctica, they got stuck in the sea ice.

And there they were stuck for over two years, the next two years.

Not only were they stuck, they were cut off from communication.

They didn't have any way, being at the south of the world, to communicate with anybody else.

Thousands away was the nearest contact that they could have reached if they

could have gotten out of the ice.

As a matter of fact, they tried to get out of this ice, spending two days straight

chipping away at it, with only 100 yards between them and the sea that was not

completely ice frozen yet. But they failed.

Not only that, as the harsh weather continued, sub-freezing temperatures,

we know that eventually the ship was thrust up out of the water and crushed by the ice coming in.

So there they were, with only three of their lifeboats left,

whatever they could salvage from the ship, and they were in these ice flows,

in the southern part of our world.

But the story just doesn't end like that. You see, the amazing thing is,

they all survived. Not one man in that expedition perished.

Isn't that incredible? I'm sorry, I should have said spoiler alert,

in case you didn't know that story. But it's amazing.

And it wasn't just the physicality, the physical strength of the crew.

It wasn't just the fact that there was providence over these men,

although there was, but it had to do something else with their leader.

You see, their leader, Ernie Shackleton, he was an explorer.

He was a failed explorer at times, of course, this expedition as well.

But nevertheless, he did something out of the ordinary in keeping the men focused,

focused that they were going to be rescued.

He kept them focused daily with routine and discipline to continue in the midst

of all the chaos going on.

Ernie Shackleton saw the goal ahead and kept them focused that they would be saved.

And not only that, they would have a story to tell. And boy,

did they have a story to tell.

You see, it wasn't just about the grit that these guys had, but it was also

about not giving up, about being encouraged when, boy, they wanted to give up.

They wanted just to lay down and freeze to death.

But their leader kept them going because there was something greater to hope

for There was something greater to look toward And I don't know about you today

if if you felt like giving up.

Don't. That's the simple message of the day.

But if you felt like giving up, no matter what you're going through in life,

I'm going to tell you you're in good company because our passage in Hebrews

today, Hebrews chapter 10, starting in verse 26, it speaks,

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

to Christians, here specifically Hebrew Christians that were tempted to go back

to their old way in Judaism, to go back to what they new,

instead of this new life, this new adventure in Christ.

And so Hebrews talks to you today who have felt like giving up,

who have felt like even in your Christian life, cashing it all in,

going after what the world has to offer.

And so this morning, I want to read the rest of this chapter here.

If you're willing and able, I invite you to stand. If you're not,

that's okay. You can stay where you're at, seated.

It is a long passage, I'll let you know that. But hear the word of the Lord

this morning from Hebrews chapter 10, starting in verse 26, says this,

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth,

no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and

of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.

Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.

How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has

trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood

of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?

For we know him who said, It is mine to avenge, I will repay.

And again, the Lord will judge his people.

It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Remember those earlier days after you had received the light.

When you endured in a great conflict full of suffering, sometimes you were publicly

exposed to insult and persecution.

At other times, you stood side by side with those who were so treated.

You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation

of your property because you knew that you yourselves had a better and lasting possessions.

So do not throw away your confidence. It will be richly rewarded.

You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God,

you will receive what he has promised.

For in just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay.

And, but my righteous ones will live by faith, and I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.

But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed,

but to those who have faith and are saved.

Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for the encouragement

within this word today. God, may we take it to heart.

Lord, may we be encouraged. May we be strengthened. May we be uplifted.

May we not lose our confidence, but have a better endurance.

And so, God, we ask this morning that your Spirit would speak to us again.

God, convict us, encourage us, whatever you need to do, our hearts are open

to you. God, speak to us, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Thank you, and you can be seated.

Well, this morning, I want to talk about four facts.

About a better endurance, better than the ship that was crushed in the ice and

sent to the bottom of the sea, better than we think we can endure on our own,

better than any endurance the world can offer us.

And so this morning, I just want to jump in here. The first point this morning is this.

Endurance begins with a clear-eyed view of reality.

Endurance really starts when we take seriously, what is at stake?

And what's at stake for each person is this thing called eternity,

is what are we going to do now to prepare for eternity that is very near?

How are we going to get ready for that? And I know what some of you are thinking,

man, I'm just having trouble trying to figure out what I'm going to do this

week, and you're wanting me to think long-term for all eternity?

How am I supposed to do that?

Well, the two aren't exclusive. You don't have to think about one and not the

other, but what you do today is important.

And seeing clearly today, the rest of this week, is important because it sets

a tone for the direction in which you're going.

And if you have an eternal perspective in life, if you can see eternity clearly,

and that is your goal, then endurance takes on a different light.

And you heard, man, this passage didn't cut any of the fat out. I mean, it just...

It didn't take out any of the pain for some of us.

As it starts out with the warning. Have you ever had those conversations?

Like you were going in and you thought it was about one thing,

but it became about another and it was a disciplinary kind of thing.

Like the boss called you into your office and you're like, all right,

maybe I'm going to get a raise. And after the meeting, you're like,

oh, I'm glad I still have a job.

You know, this kind of feels like that a little bit.

Now, but the warning here, if we deliberately keep on sinning after we've received

knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left.

I mean, the author of Hebrews just tells the first readers, the first hearers,

but us today, hey, this is important. Pay attention to this.

They're saying rejecting Christ is not a harmless drift, but it is spiritual self-destruction.

The warning is clear. Now, I want to clarify something.

This isn't talking about believers who struggle with the sin now and again, okay?

There are sins, the scripture says, that so easily beset us,

things we don't move out of our way, maybe we don't see, don't pay attention, but they can trip us up.

And if we're not careful, that will lead to a fall.

There are things, and the scripture says in James, you who are spiritual,

restore such a sinner restore one but be careful so that you don't fall into

that same kind of sin so it's not a mixed message in scripture here.

We are maybe going to struggle with some things sin may beset us there may be

a sin that's just habitually we can't get rid of,

on our own i will say it's not just talking about those christians who are tired,

and you ever say something stupid when you're tired or is it only me?

You know, you come home from work, you want to spend time with your family,

but they're annoying you because you're so tired. You just want to eat something and go to bed.

And sometimes you might say something stupid. You might sin against your family,

and the words that come out of your mouth.

There's things that are going to happen. There are mistakes that we will make.

This isn't talking about that, okay? It's not talking about those little things.

I'm not minimalizing sin. Please don't misunderstand me. Sin is serious.

And unchecked, sin will consume you, just like the wildfires all around us that

are going on. It'll take off.

So if you recognize that you've sinned, do what 1 John 1.9 says and confess that sin.

Receive forgiveness. But if you've harmed others, make sure that you receive

forgiveness from them as well.

But what this is talking about is, it's talking about the person that totally

just says, I've had it with Christ. I've had it with Christianity.

I'm tapping out. I'm not going forward anymore with this.

You see, it's a tragedy. It's not just Christians who have kind of started walking

down this path of sin, but are still aware that they can stop and turn around and come back.

It's the ones who said, God's over there.

This isn't God over here. I'm going this way. And turning their back on Christ,

with their will, with their desire to not follow him anymore.

And this is kind of a relational thing. So this is like on purpose.

It's not like, man, I hit my thumb and I said a cuss word.

Does that cut me off from Christ? Well, if you continue not controlling your

tongue or letting the Lord control your tongue, then you could be in trouble.

But it's relationally saying, Jesus, I'm done with you.

I don't want to have anything else to do with you. How do I know it's kind of

more about that relationship? Well, if we look at the words in Scripture that

were said, it says, trampling the Son of God underfoot?

Oh, that sounds pretty bad. Insulting the Spirit of God?

I mean, this passage carries a big punch to it.

It says don't turn your back on God. Don't cut off the relationship that is saving you.

Why does it say that? Because if you do, there's nothing left to save you.

Remember, endurance grows in your life when you realize that Jesus Christ is

the only sacrifice, the only refuge, the only hope for your life.

So don't cut him off.

There's nothing else that's going to save you. Money will not save you.

Remember, we're looking at an eternal perspective here.

Fame will not save you popularity will not save you,

only jesus is the one who had the sacrifice himself to take care of your sin

once and for all for all eternity,

and once you stop trusting him there's nothing else that's left that can save you,

and so what do we do with this well we need to understand why we're enduring.

Why do you go through what you go through?

Why do you say, Lord, I'm trusting you even though I've got this illness that won't go away?

Why haven't you given up on God? Well, probably because you're trusting him

to save you for all eternity, that even though right now you're in this illness,

and maybe it's chronic, maybe even it's fatal, you're trusting that God,

will be at the end of that one way or another, whether you're healthy,

or whether you lose your life and you go to be with him for all eternity.

You've got a clear focus on that.

You see, when you can think soberly or when you can think self-controlled and

don't let your thoughts run wild, that sober thinking, that brings the clarity to your mind.

You can see clearly. And when you can see clearly, that leads to a resolve to endure,

that these afflictions are momentary, that they're just right here,

right now, but in the scope of all eternity, there's not much that you really have to endure.

You see, having this clear-eyed view of reality helps us with our second point

here, and that is our endurance is strengthened by remembering God's past grace in our life.

Endurance is fueled by recalling what God has done for us in the past.

That keeps us endured. I was listening to some football players at the widow's

breakfast. They had come back, and they weren't part of the widow's breakfast,

but they had come back to the same area, and we were listening to them.

And they were talking about, oh, man, it's football season.

It's time to get in shape. All right? They've got to fight the dirty air.

They've got to fight the increased temperatures.

And they've just got to fight their own physicality and building their muscles

up again to get ready for the season.

And they were talking about dreading it, but yet at the same time as dreading

it, they were excited because it's football season again.

And so there's this mixed emotion and those football players were going to need endurance.

And they had a clear-eyed perspective because they want to get to the championship

again. They want to win state again.

That's their end goal in mind, but yet they knew they were going to have to

hurt to get to that point.

They knew they were going to have to lift weights. They knew they were going

to have to go out there and practice and practice and practice and endure many things.

But they also had in mind what they did last year when they had the state championship.

And so that past memory fueled their endurance into this season.

And when we think about the losses that these young men will have to endure,

the losses that happened with the expedition to Antarctica, the losses that

you face, we get an encouragement here in Scripture because it says,

you could endure these losses.

In verse 34, you suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted this

confiscation of your property because you knew that you yourselves had a better

and lasting possessions.

What had they endured? Well, they endured public shame.

Like we just said, they endured their loss of property. They endured persecution

with joy because they knew what they had.

They had something that was going to last for eternity.

It's kind of like the old grandma who lived in a very, very bad place of her town.

It wasn't always that way, but as cities go, sometimes neighborhoods turn and

they're not so good neighborhoods anymore.

And some thugs broke into this grandma's house and started taking all her stuff,

her brand new TV that, you know, her son had bought her for her birthday.

They started getting all the silverware that was real silver they could find.

And she was just sitting in the easy chair, just smiling and laughing.

And she even said, hey, my safe is over there. Why don't you go ahead and help yourself to that?

And she was just smiling all the way around. And as these thugs took everything

that was of value in her home, they were just puzzled. Are you going to call the police?

Because we'll end this right now if you're going to call the police.

No, honey, I'm not going to call the police. Hey, did you check that drawer

over there? There might be some money in there for you.

To the normal person, why are you doing that? These guys were confused.

But this woman said, I've got something far more valuable in a safe that you can never touch.

And she was talking about her relationship with Jesus and all the treasure that

she had stored up in heaven.

And no doubt that's what the writer of Hebrews was telling these Hebrew listeners

and telling us today that you have something far more valuable waiting for you for all eternity.

So the stuff we have right now is just that. It's just stuff.

When you go to heaven, you can't take it with you, no matter how much you would like to. You can't.

But they suffered this with joy. I want to tell you, your past might not be

perfect, but it's proof, just as it was proof for these that were being spoken to.

God sustained them then, and God will sustain them now.

God sustains you through whatever you've gone through in life,

and God will continue to sustain you. He'll continue to be with you.

Do you trust him in that? Are you trusting him in that, that God is with you?

See, memory, especially memory of what God has done in your life, it is spiritual fuel.

Man, it's like NOS, nitrous oxide in your tank.

You flip that switch and boom, you're just going.

People better watch out because you've been hyped up. That's what memory does for your spirit.

And really, there's a psychological thing to this. You've heard of fight or flight, right?

It's this trauma. It's this panic response to something that's happening.

Well, if that happens in your life, there's this response that happens,

fight or flight, because you're just kind of in the moment, all this anxiety stewing up.

The cool thing about your memory of what God has done or being reminded of that,

it brings this peace to your life.

What it does, it takes the flight or fight response and it neutralizes it because

in your brain, there's this part of it called the amygdala.

And that's the part that kind of calms that anxiety down so you could really think.

And those spiritual memories, those memories of, oh, I got to do this.

The Lord's called me to this.

Well, that kind of goes away. That freak out moment goes away when you remember

that God's carried you through all these other things.

That God had your back back then. God had your back there. God will have your

back again. Just trust me.

And it brings this calm over you so that you can deal with what is right there.

When you remember God's past faithfulness, the present trials will lose their

power to intimidate you.

You don't have to be intimidated because you can trust that God will see you through.

I'm remembering the first time I got up to preach. It was the worst sermon there ever was, I'm sure.

And I probably should have stopped right then and just gone on to do something else.

But I had this calling from the Lord to keep on going, to keep on and to keep on.

What I want to say is you look at your life over a period of time,

not just one event, and see how the Lord has been with you each step of the way.

And whatever he's called you

to and whatever he's even allowed you to go through, trust him in that.

So we know that we need to have this clear-eyed view of reality.

We know we need to remember God's past grace, what He's done in our lives.

And the third fact I want to share with you about our better endurance is that

our better endurance is anchored in a better future.

Folks, I love the doctrine of the Church of Nazarene because it's an optimistic theology.

It's not gloom and doom, gloom and doom all the time, but there's a sense of optimism to it.

We know we have a better future, and we endure because our future is guaranteed

because we know there's a Savior coming back.

We don't have to worry because we know Jesus is coming back for us.

And the song that I love, Jesus is coming soon, morning or night or noon.

You can sing it better than me, so I will stop.

That's one of my favorite songs. So if you ever see me driving down the road

and I'm just seeing and that's probably what I'm seeing because it brings me

hope that Jesus is returning and we can endure whatever because Jesus is coming back.

Jesus is coming back. The scripture says, don't throw away your confidence.

Don't throw away your confidence. The Greek word is parisia.

It talks about a bold public allegiance to Jesus, a bold public sharing of your

faith, really literally a bold free speech. We're all about free speech in this nation, right?

Don't throw away that confidence. The public pronouncement that I'm a believer in Jesus Christ.

Here's what he did for me, and here's what he can do for you.

He says, don't shrink back from that. Don't lose that confidence. Why?

Why should we not be afraid when people begin to criticize?

Well, dude, I knew you when you were in high school. I know what kind of guy

you were. Now you're trying to preach Jesus to me?

Totally, because that's where I was, but that's not where I'm at anymore.

Here's where I'm at today. And here's what God has done with me all along the way.

But you used to be like that. Yes. But now I'm like this because of what Christ has done.

You see, the reward is real. The promise is certain. And I've got to tell you,

in Christ, I believe the future is secure.

What Jesus has done for you has secured a place for you with him,

with God for all eternity.

Do you really believe that today? Are you trusting Jesus for that today?

It's not based on anything you can do, but it's based on what God has done and

based upon, are you going to trust God in that?

So I want you to remember this. Endurance is not a self-help grit.

Endurance is hope-driven perseverance. You've got to persevere.

I believe in the perseverance of the saints, that God's people will endure anything

because they know what is on the other side of that turmoil,

what is on the other side of that trouble.

And so we can stick with it. We can stick with it because we know that we're not alone.

So what I want you to do, I want you to trust God's promised future. Trust him.

We know that fear, when fear enters in, it shrinks endurance.

It shrinks it down. We don't want to do anything if we're afraid.

Go back to the fight or flight thing. There's another thing that's freeze.

You can either fight or you can run away, but there's that third option that

we just freeze because we don't know what to do.

I remember one time I went out in McCall And One I scared a bear away Yeah I

did Getting in my trash can I won't tell you what I was wearing Because it's

embarrassing But I had a stick in my hand.

I was chasing that thing. Get away. But I remember going back,

and as I went back, there was a deer.

Of course, the deer are friendly in McCall, sometimes too friendly.

I was trying to scare it away, but it would just stand there looking at me stupid,

so I must not have been that intimidating.

But it was just frozen. I don't know if it was from the bear,

from what I was wearing or not wearing, but it was just frozen there.

Fear will do that to us sometimes. It'll just freeze us. We don't know what

to do. We're overwhelmed by the fear.

So don't let fear shrink your endurance, because what hope will do,

hope will expand your endurance, your capacity to endure many, many things.

When you know that the future is already secured by Christ, you could endure

anything in the present. You really can.

Trust God in that, no matter what you're going through, however ugly it might

be, God's going to get you through that.

The fourth fact this morning is this. After we know our hope is anchored in

a better future, our endurance, I should say, we know that our endurance is.

Strengthened when we remember what God's done in the past. We know that we can

have a clear-eyed view of reality. Our endurance starts there.

Well, fourth is that our endurance is expressed through faith that refuses to shrink back.

I love how this passage ended in Hebrews chapter 10.

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed,

but to those who have faith and are saved.

It's a declaration.

Endurance is active faith that refuses to retreat even when pressured.

We do not retreat.

We press on.

Well, do we shrink back or are we going to be saved? That's the question each

and every one of us has to answer.

When the heat is on, when the pressure is on. The writer of Hebrews,

God tells us today that there's two contrasting paths.

We either shrink back to destruction or believe and our souls are saved.

Which one do you want to do?

You want to go back or do you want to go forward with God into the salvation that he's promised you?

Hey, if you go back, you're going back to the old garbage, you're going back

to the old way of doing things. You're rejecting Christ's sacrifice,

saying, no, Jesus, that's not good enough.

But that's all there is left to take care of your sin. Is that?

When you endure, that expression of that faith is to not shrink back.

Someone once said, endurance is faith with a backbone. I like that. Crazy.

Man, there's something about Americans. We don't like being told what to do,

when it comes down to it now some do i know they like to be sheep and told where

to go go here go there do this do that but for the most part maybe it's just

americans out west well mostly out west before you get to the coastline.

We like to stand up,

We like to have a say in things. We like to have a backbone.

Faith that stands, faith that stays, faith that keeps moving forward because

it trusts the character of God.

Backbone is not our own.

Our backbone has been placed there by Jesus, by what Jesus has done.

So we can stand up under persecution. We can stand up under mistreatment.

We can stand up when the situation is ugly because we're standing for God.

We're taking a stand based on the faith that we have in Jesus Christ.

What we really need to do, folks, is to choose faith over fear. Don't be afraid.

Don't be afraid to do what God has called you to do. There's things that are going to happen in life.

Endurance is not about being strong in your own strength, but it's about staying faithful.

And really, when we get down to it, holiness in our tradition of faith is really loyal love.

It means we're sticking with God no matter what. and if we're sticking with

God no matter what, it means that we are partners in this covenant of grace that we have with God.

It means that we're trusting Him. We're trusting Him with all of our heart,

and it's this kind of trust that's obedient.

We're going to do what God asks us to do. Even if it's hard,

we're going to do the hard things.

Even if it's sacrificial, we're going to sacrifice. Whatever God has called

us to do, that's what we're going to do.

So as we wrap this up this morning, we endure because we see reality clearly.

We endure because we remember God's past grace.

We endure because we trust God's promised future.

And we endure because we choose faith over fear.

We know that rejecting Christ has serious consequences. Scripture tells us that pretty plainly here.

How might you evaluate this morning what you're really valuing in your life right now?

What is most important to you right at this very minute?

I've got something I want you to do this week.

It might be easy or it might be hard, but still, it's a piece of pastoral advice

I'd like you to take with you.

What I want you to do this week is simply this. Share your biggest faith challenge,

with a friend, something maybe you're having a hard time believing.

Maybe God's asked you to do something and you just don't know how you're going to do that.

Share that challenge that you're having with somebody else.

Ask them to pray for you and to check in on you regularly I know this takes vulnerability,

And when you choose to be vulnerable, it opens you up But it does something else as well,

It takes whatever you're struggling with inside That nobody else knows about,

Only you and the Lord That you're struggling with all the time It takes it from

yourself and it externalizes it,

So now somebody else knows that I struggle with this Somebody else knows It's

not just my struggle anymore I've shared my burden with someone else That's

going to help me to carry it.

I've taken it from an inward struggle and I've enlisted and I've asked for help in that.

When you do that, it creates a powerful bond with that other person that can

lift your spirit and help you endure the challenges that might be ahead as you

seek to follow God, as you seek to follow him.

It will make your home life peaceful, make your work life far more peaceful.

You've taken that inner struggle out and you've asked for help.

And perhaps that's the thing that's most difficult for most people. is asking for help.

I think back to our opening illustration with Ernest Shackleton.

They didn't survive just based on that one man. They all shared the burden together.

They all had a share in the same hope that they would be rescued.

Together, they opened themselves up to where they struggled.

The proud were called out. Sometimes the proud were demoted to scrubbing floors

in the middle of Antarctica on the ship that eventually would sink.

They survived in community together, and that's the power of this church.

It's not just prayer, but it's when we come together and pray,

but when we come together to support one another, to carry one another's burdens,

and so fulfill the law of Christ.

This week, you guys, I want you to stay anchored in faith because Jesus is returning

soon and he's faithful to those who endure.

We trust God in that this week. Let's pray together. Father,

thank you for the opportunity that we've had to worship you today, God to serve you.

And Lord, we don't want to be those that shrink back. We don't want to be those

that go back to the cesspool of sin from which we came, back to religiosity,

where we had the form of religion.

We looked good on the outside, but on the inside, we were disgusting because

our lives were full of sin, judgment.

Lord, help us to be people that will endure to the end because of our hope in you.

And this week, Father, as we share our biggest faith challenges with others,

Lord, may we find receptive ears and Christian accountability that encourages

us to take a step of faith forward.

Lord, we're trusting you. We want to get to our end goal together.

And so, Father, we pray that you'll be glorified in the name of Jesus. Amen.

I want to thank you for joining today's sermon podcast. You can find a copy

of today's sermon, as well as other sermons, and the sermon outline from today

on our church's website,

www.mvcnaz.org.

It is my prayer also that you will seek out a church home that recognizes the authority of the Bible.