Sunday Service

Good morning, Mount Pleasant Christian Center. I hope everyone is having a good start to the day. You know, sometimes God gives us that song in our hearts. And the other day I was just out walking, and it's funny because over the years you just sometimes have a rolodex of songs that come through your head at different parts, at different times in your life, and they're coming through. And one of my favorite groups growing up was the Winans. And there was a song, “Uphold me with thy holy spirit.” And again, whatever you do, Lord, don't take your love from me. You can uphold me. You can mold me. You can shake me. You can break me. I don't care. Whatever you do, don't take your joy from me. And it was just hitting me strong.

And it's like, you know what? There's going to be times when we're going through it. And there's so many times you're at the highest highs. And there's times when you feel like you're at the lowest of lows. And it's like, but you know what my thing was always, and I I was telling my parents, I was around, you know what? Still standing, even when you get hit hard. It's like, you know what? Sometimes all you can do is laugh, right? And saying, "Okay, God, I don't know why, but it is what it is," and just like you have done for me in the past and got me through that, this is just another time when I'm gonna have to trust you and say, "Okay, God, here it is again."

And I'm telling you, I'm amazed at how many times God has got me through. And it's funny because each time I'm so amazed, right, when I should be saying, "Yep, I can count on it." Absolutely. But God is so magnificent that we find ourselves in awe of him over and over and over again. But you know what? I'm so glad that I can be here this morning with you, my brothers and sisters, and say, you know what? We are standing in the presence of the creator of this universe. Yes. And saying, you know, we are coming together with that in our hearts and in our minds and saying, you know what, God has something for you today. He has something for me today unlike we've ever experienced, and he's right there. We are privileged to be standing here together in his presence. And what an awesome expectation we should have walking through those doors and saying, "Okay, God, what is it going to be today? How is it going to happen today?" Because you know what? I know it's going to happen. Amen.

So, right now, if you'll stand with me, we are just going to humbly give ourselves unto God this morning and say, "Lord, have your way." Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father God, we thank you, Lord, for the opportunity to be here this morning, standing in your presence. This is your time, dear God. And right now, Lord, we present ourselves to you, Lord. Have your way with everything that goes on this morning; every note that is played, every word that is sung, open our hearts and minds like never before. Lord, envelop us in you today. Lord, we give this service and everything in it into your mighty hands. And all of God's people said, "Amen." [Music] [Music]

I've searched the world, but it couldn't fill me. A man's empty praise, the treasures that they are never enough. And you came along and put me back together. And every desire is now satisfied. I'm here in your love. Oh, there's nothing better than you. Oh, there's nothing better than you. Oh, there's nothing nothing is better than you. I'm not afraid. Show you my weakness, my failures. Of you, see you still call me friend, the God of the mountain, the God of the valley, there's not a place your mercy and grace won't find me again and again and again. Oh, there's nothing better than you. There's nothing better than you. Oh, there's nothing nothing is better than you. Oh, there's nothing better than you. Oh, there's nothing better than you. There's nothing nothing is better than you. You turn morning into dancing. You give beauty for ashes. You turn shame into glory. You're the only one who cares. You turn into dancing. You give beauty for ashes. You turn shame into glory. You're the only one who can. You turn grades. You turn into army. You turn into highway. You're the only one who can. You're the only one who can. You're the only one who [Music] can. There's nothing better than you. Oh, there's nothing better than you. Oh, there's nothing nothing is better than you. Oh, there's nothing better than you. Oh, there's nothing better than Jesus. There's nothing. Nothing is [Music] better. You turn grades. You turn B into You turn seas into highways. You're the only one who can. You turn gra into God. You turn into You turn into highway. You're the only one who can. You're the only one who can. You're the only one who can [Music] [Music] [Music]

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Praise him all creatures here below. Lord. Praise him above the heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy [Music] Ghost. [Music] Amen. [Music] Amen. Amen. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]

I was talking to the team before we started, before we came out today. I just want to share with you what we were, what God impressed upon my heart. Does anybody in this room that struggles with anything? Anybody struggle in this place? I'm not alone. Amen. Um, this week I've really felt God impressing something upon me, and I know it's always uh not just for me. I always share and and uh I don't know if you guys like it or but it's too bad. It's too bad. I'm going to do it anyways. Um, but what the father has been impressing upon me and what I've what I've heard from him today is that uh, you know, there's so many times where I feel like I'm not enough. I feel like I'm not doing what I'm supposed to be doing. I feel like I'm uh out of place. Uh, not not right, not um I just don't feel okay in my emotions, in my head, and and in my mind. Um, but God God reminds God reminded me this week that it's not it's not about me. It's not about what I've done. It's not about what I feel. It's not about about anything that I'm I'm doing. And it's all about him.

And that's what my confidence is, right? In that I can be strong. In that I can I can stand here and be sure of the God that I believe in, right? Of of of the calling that is on my life, of of of what it is that I'm supposed to be doing to lead people in worship, to to to love my brothers and sisters. I can stand and be and be sure that I know that I know that I know that he is Lord and he has saved me, and it is his grace and his mercy that covers the multitude of sin in my life. All the things that I've done, all the things that I will do, he knows already and he still loves me. He still loves me. There's there's nothing I I I know I've said this before, but I think it it bears saying again. It's something that's important. There's nothing that you can do in your life in your life that is going to make God love you less. Nothing. Nothing. And the other side of that coin is because there's some people that are wired the other way. There's nothing that you can do that is going to make God love you more. Some of you need to hear that today. Some of you think that doing all this thing and and being busy for the Lord is a good thing. Sometimes you you're too busy. You can miss your blessing. You can miss where God wants you to be. You can be too busy doing things for for Jason or or for Matt or or for our, you know, whatever it is, you know, for whoever you are as a person, and you miss where God wants you to be. So, some of you in this in this place today need to hear that. Some of you may hear need to hear the part about about God loving you more, not not being able to do something to make God love you more. Some of you need to hear not being able to make God love you less. God loves you. He loves you as you are, as you were created to be. The person that is in you, the the the the the heart that is within you is there. It is placed by God. It beats because God wants it to. That in enough is in itself is a reason to be to raise our hands and be and to and to give him praise. Amen. [Music] Hallelujah.

This song we're about to sing is, it says, "I want to be more like [Music] Jesus. If I can be just a reflection of him, that's enough. To be even associated with him is amazing. To be called by him, to be known by him. You are known today by the creator of the universe. The creator of the universe knows you. I'm grateful for that today. [Music] I've been told to give my your own truth. Do whatever makes me feel good. Give it a boundaries. The rules of life, chasing feelings soon will be gone. But I found myself more lost than never. Slave and bound to my desires. That's not freedom. Holy Spirit, makes you more like Jesus. Every day a little more like Jesus. Crucify my flesh with yours. My new life, my peace. Everything I do, just so I can honor you. Resurrect me, saints. Take me into your [Music] image like [Music] you. I feel the change coming for of you and me of me. The transformation by your spirit in me. Now that I know you know there's no one else for me cuz you're the one that I so love. Now I find myself for love and never my desire. Now this is freedom. Holy Spirit me more like Jesus. Every day I live more like [Music] Jesus. My new life. Everything I do just so I can honor you. Resurrect me. Take me into your [Music] living like you. Oh, to people like you, [Music] Lord. Praise be to God. Praise be to God. You save me from myself. Thanks be to God. Thank you to God. a new life I've been tell. Never look back. No, I can't go back of yours. Never look back. No, I can't go back of yours. Oh, great to God. Praise be to God. Praise be to God. You save me for myself. Oh, I will [Music] [Applause] never look back. No, I can't go back to you. No, I never look back. Never look back. No, I can't go back from yours. God, to God, bring to God. You save me for myself, my holy God. A new life I know I never go back on your I never look back. No I can't come back from your Holy Spirit. More like Jesus. Every day I live more like [Music] Jesus by my flesh. I unite my peace in your everything I do just so I can honor you. Resurrect me. Resurrect me. Make me like you. Holy Spirit, oh [Music] my Jesus, my new life you just you res take me to your Yeah. Oh, more like you, Jesus. Make me more like you. Make me more like you, Lord. Yeah. Yeah. Make me more like you. [Music] Yeah. Sing. Praise be to God. Praise be to God. Praise God. to save me by myself. Sing it out. [Music] I never look back. No, I [Music] can't. No, I can't. Come on, sing that again. Praise be to God. Praise be to God. Praise to God. You save me before I [Music] say a new life I be [Music] never your heart breaking down you take [Music] myself. I can't go back. No, I never look back. I can't go back. I'm yours, Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, more like Jesus. Holy Ghost like Jesus. Oh yeah. [Music] My new life, my everything I do so I can resurrect [Music] you. Make me into your [Music] image. Make me into your image, Jesus. more like you, Lord. I want to be more like you, Lord. Oh, be more like you. Thank you for your resurrection. Thank you for your resurrection. Thank you for your resurrection. We rise with you. We thank you for your resurrection. We thank you for your resurrection. Thank you for your resurrection. We rise with you. Oh, thank you for your resurrection. Yeah. Thank you for your resurrection. Thank you for your resurrection. Thank you for your resurrection. rise with you. Thank you for your resurrection. Thank you for your resurrection. Thank you for your resurrection. Cuz we rise with you. Oh, thank you. Thank you for your resurrection. Thank you for your resurrection. Thank you for your resurrection. Cuz we rise with you. Thank you for Thank you for your resurrection. Thank you. Thank you for your resurrection. Thank you for your resurrection cuz we rise with you. Yeah. [Music] Holy Spirit, make me more like Jesus. Every day a little more like Jesus. Crucify my flesh with yours. That my new life might be secure. Everything I do just so I can honor you. Resurrect me, sanctify me, make me into your image. [Music]

Oh, hallelujah. Let's give God some praise right now. Hallelujah. Oh, God. You're so worthy, God. The song we're about to sing is worthy. And when we think about the goodness of God and all he has done, he is so worthy. Not because of what he does, but because of who he is. So, as we sing this song, worship with us. It was my cross you bore so I could live in your freedom. you died for. And now my life is yours. And I will sing of your goodness forever more. Worthy is your name, Jesus. You deserve the praise. Worthy is your name. Worthy is your name, Jesus. You deserve the praise. Worthy is your name. Worthy is your name, Jesus. You deserve the praise. Worthy is your name. Worthy is your name. Jesus, you deserve the praise. Worthy is your name. [Music] [Music] Yet now my shame is gone. I stand amazed in your love [Music] undeniable. And your grace goes on and on. And I will sing of your goodness forever more. Glory is your name, Jesus. You deserve the praise. Worthy is your name. Worthy is your name, Jesus. You deserve the praise. Worthy is your name. Worthy is your name, Jesus. You deserve the praise. Worthy is your name. Worthy is your name. Jesus, you deserve the praise. Worthy is your name. [Music] Oh, oh Lord, you're worthy. Be exalted now in the heavens as your glory fills this place. You alone deserve our praise. You're the name above all names. Be exalted now in the heavens as your glory fills this place. You alone deserve our praise. You're the name above all names. Be exalted now in the heavens as your glory fills this place. You alone deserve our praise. You're the name above our names. Be exalted now in the heavens as your glory fills this place. You alone deserve our praise. You're the name above all. [Music] Oh [Music] yeah. Oh Lord, you're worthy. Lord, you're [Music] worthy. Heat [Music] up here. Your name [Music] Jesus, you deserve the praise. Worthy is your name. Worthy is your name. Jesus, you deserve praise. What is your name? What is your name? [Music] Jesus Christ. What is your name? What is your name? Jesus. You are the praise. Worthy your name. Oh, you're so worthy, God. Oh, you're worthy. Day and night, night and day, let incense arise. Day and night, night and day, let incense arise. Day and night, night and day, let incense arise. Day and night, night and day, let incense arise. Day and night, night and day, let incense arise. Day and night, night and day, let incense arise. Day and night, night and day, let incense arise. Day and night, night and day, you're worthy of it all. You're worthy of it all. For from you are all peace. and to you are all things. You deserve the glory. Oh, you're worthy. Yes, you're worthy of it all. You're worthy of it all. [Music] For from you are all peace and to you are all things. You deserve the glory. Oh, you're worthy. You're worthy of it all. Lord, you're worthy. Oh, we love you. Yes, we do. For from you are all things and to you are all things. You deserve the glory. One more time, church. You're worthy. Come on, let's sing it out. You're worthy of it all. You're worthy of it all. [Music] For from you are all things and to you are all things. You deserve the glory. You're worthy of it all. Come on, voices. Help me out here. You're worthy of it all. [Music] For from you are all praise and to you are all praise. You deserve the glory. You're worthy. You're worthy. You're worthy. You're worthy. You're worthy of it all. Yes, sweet spirit. You're worthy of it all. For from you are all things, and to you are all things. You deserve the glory. [Music] Oh, glory God. We are worthy of it all. Come on, let's give him praise. He deserves the glory. He deserves the honor. He deserves all of the worship we could give this morning. Hallelujah. Glory. You deserve it all, Lord Jesus. For you came from heaven to earth. You came from heaven to earth, Lord, with one purpose, one goal. to glorify God by walking in obedience, to being crucified in the flesh for our sins, for our downfalls, for our mistakes. One purpose to die on a cross that did not belong to you. It belonged to me. It belonged to us. You died for me. You died for us, your people, sinners who were lost and broken and need of a savior. You did that for us. Thank you, Jesus. We're so grateful this morning for what you've done. We're grateful for that sacrifice that you made on our behalf. You didn't have to, but you did it. You didn't take your life. You gave it freely. [Music] You receive those nails in your hands and your feet for [Music] us. And as Isaiah says, by your stripes, we are healed. By the stripes you received on your back through the crucifixion on that cross, we're saved, sanctified, promised eternity with our Savior forever. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. Glory to your name, God. So, we thank you this morning for that sacrifice. And we will not forget you, Lord. We will not forget what you did for us. Offer love. We're so grateful, Lord. And Father, we pray with grateful hearts as we move through the rest of this service. Lord God, we will you'll be tuned in. Lord, we will not allow ourselves to be distracted by anyone, anything, any issue, any struggle. In fact, all the things that are stressing us out right now or worrying our hearts concerning, bringing, you know, consternation to us, Lord, I pray that we would just give them to you. lamb at the foot of your throne and that we would give our full attention to you this morning. That you would speak to our hearts that we would be encouraged and edified through your word. That we'd be so excited about it, so filled with passion because of it that when we leave this place, God, we can't help but put it into practice. God, have your way. Have your way in me today. Come on, tell them that. Say, "Lord Jesus, have your way in me this morning. Come on, speak to me, Lord. Let me hear your voice. Let me receive from you this morning, Lord. Whatever you got for me, God, I receive it in Jesus name. And we thank you for it right now with grateful hearts. And we just want to give you the praise, the glory, the honor, and the worship. And it's in the mighty and wonderful name of Jesus that we pray." And all of God's people said, "Amen." And amen. Can we give him some glory this morning? Come on, give him praise. Hallelujah. Yes, [Applause] Lord. He deserves all the glory, all the honor, all the worship that we can give today. Amen. Hallelujah. Glory, glory, glory. Thank you, God.

With that excitement in your heart, why don't you turn around and shake a couple hands? Greet somebody in the name of the Lord. Let's have a minute of fellowship, right? Hug a neck. Tell somebody how glad you are to see him. Smile at him. Amen. Thank you, Jesus. Amen. All right. Before we move forward this morning, this is uh mission Sunday. And again, you show me a church that doesn't give to missions, and I'll show you what kind of church. A dead church. Amen. A church that doesn't support missions is a dead church. If you've ever driven off of our property and kind of look to the right over there before you got out, you see the back of our sign. It says, "You are now entering the mission field." Amen. Everywhere off of this property is a mission field. But but but we support missionaries who are here and abroad. Assemblies of God, missionaries who have done the work and gone out and served peoples in different lands and and done everything they can to connect people with the love of Jesus Christ. And we are all about supporting that today. I want to do a a missionary focus this morning. I think the team's going to get the pictures of these missionaries on the on the screen for me real quick. We're going to take an offering for them in a moment and hear about some announcements, but I want you want to introduce you to missionaries Victor and Arena Gaidic.

All right. These are missionaries to the Slavic people in our region. They are based and stationed in Sacramento, California. And they reach out to a lot of Ukrainian people. I don't know if you've ever been to Sacramento, spent any time there. There's a huge Ukrainian and Russian population there in Sacramento. As you know, those two countries are at war, and uh there's a lot of unrest. So, Victor and Arena Gadesuk, they they minister to the people who are not just living here in Sacramento, but but refugees from Ukraine, and they are just speaking the love of Jesus Christ into their lives. We've been supporting them for a number of years um since their their their sons were boys, you know, and so we've kind of got behind them and and did everything we can to be a blessing to them and continue uh the missions through them. I want to read just a small little portion of of his report. We get monthly reports from our missionaries so that you know uh what's going on as you support them, as you give into their missions work. Uh these are the things that that take place. Okay. Uh our son Alex, this is from um brother Victor. Our son Alex who is part of our ministry recently shared a conversation he had with his friend uh Cleo. Cleo said to him, "Alex, you and your family are a big example to me. I want to have a blessed family life like yours." Cleto has been uh through three divorces. So, he's been married three times. Alex shared the good news of Jesus with him and invited him to church. And Cleto agreed, saying, "Okay, I really want to go to your church." The following Sunday, he drove 30 miles to attend. After the service, he said, "Man, today's message from the pastor was just for me." Did you call the pastor and tell him what to preach? How many of you ever felt that way? Come on, somebody. You've been to service, you've been going through something, and pastor preaches and it feels like he's preaching to you, but you didn't even have a chance to talk to him, right? That's how God works. And listen what Alex said. Alex replied, "No, it was all orchestrated by God who works in very mysterious ways sometimes." Since that first visit, Cleto has been attending church regularly, and God continues to speak to him every Sunday. Please keep him in your prayers as God continues to work in his life. Amen. God is at work in this man's life. Why? All because he saw the gospel of Jesus Christ not preached to him first. That was secondary. He saw it lived out loud in the people who represented Christ to him. His first thing to Alex, the thing first thing he said was, "Your family is an example." Everybody say example. I want to be like you guys. I want to have a family life like yours. He saw Jesus in this family's life and he said, "I want that." Look at your neighbor. Say, "I want that." He wanted that. And so what did he do? What did Alex do? Thank God for great parents who who teach people to teach their children to never underestimate the power of a simple invitation to church. Those of you who've been inviting your friends and family to church and they've they've declined, keep inviting. Be persistent. Amen. Keep inviting him in a loving and gentle way. Keep inviting them. Eventually, God's going to wear them down and he's going to get them out here and God will do the rest. You don't have to save your family. That's God's job. Sometimes all you got to do is invite. And so that's what Alex did. Trained by his parents, part of that ministry. Simply he invited him to church. And Cleto said yes. And he drove 30 miles. Come on, somebody. Driving 30 miles to go to church. That that speaks of commitment and it says that he has not missed a Sunday. He's been to

Church, and God is working in his life. We're going to continue to pray for this man and pray for this family. But this is what your support does. It empowers men and women like these to reach out to the peoples that God has called them to. Whether they're from war-torn countries or not, the work that they do is important. And folks, the work that you do is important. Amen. Because some are called to go and some are called to send. We're senders. Amen. We're senders.

So today, I want to give you an opportunity to give. I'm going to ask our ushers to come up at this time. You can give in the plates today. If you're giving cash, that's great. It's going to go straight to this, uh, our missions program to people like, uh, these this couple right here, Victor and Arena. Uh, we also have other missionaries that we support, and your monthly giving goes to support each and every one of them. So, you can give cash this morning. You can also give a check. Make sure on the bottom of your check, you make it out to missions and you make the check out to Mount Pleasant Christian Center. You can give online through the Church Center app, through our website, npccu uh sj.org. Uh, you can give in many different ways, but we're encouraging you to give. If you can't give today, you can give at other times online as well. Amen. We also have boxes in the back on either side of the uh the sound booth back there where you can give as well. Amen.

So, let's pray for this uh this offering, and then we're going to see some announcements. Father God, we thank you this morning for your goodness and your mercy. We thank you for your love. We thank you for the fact that you send people into the highways and the hedges to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to see men, women, and children saved by the power of God. Father, we thank you that we get to be a part of that. While we might might not be the people who are called to go, we are called to be a part of that team that sends. And the simple act of putting a dollar or two in this offering, the simple act of writing a check or giving online, whatever amount, be a big, small, or somewhere in between, it goes to the furthering of missions. We don't want to be a dead church, God. We want to be a church that gives. And so, Father, we're asking that you bless what is given. Again, be it big, small, or in between. Use it to spread the gospel here and abroad. We thank you. We give you the praise and the glory. And it's in the mighty name of Jesus that we pray. And all of God's people said, "Amen."

So, give with glad hearts as you watch this these announcements. Come and join us for our veteran Memorial Day spaghetti lunch after just a reminder starts on Friday 5:00 p.m. It costs $50. See Josh at the welcome booth if you're interested. A reminder if you guys are unable to show up to service, we always have our live stream NPCC of San Jose on YouTube. You can always get into our live streams that are for every Sunday and watch us live. If you want to give, you can give in our offering boxes in the back of the tech booth or download the church center church MPCC. Press the give button. So, if you ever wondered how to give through the church center app, that's what it looks like and that's how you do it. If you want to know more about our ministries here at MPCC or get involved, visit our welcome booth after service. Amen. All right. So, now you know what's going on at Mount Pleasant Christian Center. Thank you, Awakened Young Adults for putting that uh video together for this month. If you have any questions, please see any of us, and we'd be glad to give you some more information on that.

One more thing about missions before we jump into the word today, I want to say this. Most of our missions giving, most of the support that we give to missionaries is carried by one particular demographic in this church. You want me to tell you what that is? Our seniors. Not our seniors in high school. Our seniors 65 and above. Can we give it up for our seniors? Amen. But here's my point. These seniors know their faithfulness is going to be rewarded one day in heaven. They're going to receive that tug on their on their gown, on their robe, and they're going to hear that thank you for giving to the Lord. But I can tell you what's going to be equally as a blessing that as they go home to be with the Lord that they know that they've left a generation behind that is going to match or outgive them. Oh, come on. I know that our seniors want to get into glory knowing that when they leave, giving is not going to decrease. It's going to be matched or it's going to be increased by the younger generation. So all of you young adults and youngsters, God can use you to keep missions moving forward. Amen. I again I don't want to be that dead church. So let's continue to give to missions. Somebody say amen this morning. Amen.

All right. This morning, I want to talk to you about a very important thing that I think God wants for us. I believe that God desires for his people to possess a particular quality within them concerning their walk. Right? God wants this particular I'm going to call it a power, right? He wants this involved in our walk with Christ. It's a quality that can see beyond difficult situations and circumstances. It's a quality that can stand up to any challenge that comes our way. It's a quality that can barrel through any obstacle that stands in our way. It's a quality that can only be described by one word. That word is tenacious. Everybody say tenacious. In fact, this morning the sermon is called tenacious faith. God wants our faith in him and our walk with him to be one of tenacity. A tenacious faith. Okay. What does that mean? Some of you may have a, you know, a basic sort of idea of what tenacity means or tenacious means. But right here up on the screen, I've defined it for you. Tenacious means holding fast. What does that mean? That means holding on to and not letting go. Look at your neighbor and say, "Don't let go." Don't let go. It means clinging or adhering persistently to something, a firm hold, highly retentive, stubborn. Anybody in here ever been accused of being stubborn? Raise your hand and wave at me. Amen. Me, too. Praise the Lord. Vicious. I'm not going to ask who's been accused of being vicious. Okay, we're going to leave that. Gluttonous, cohesive. Now, when I say that word gluttonous, usually that's a that's a one of the seven deadly sins, but but but in context to what we're talking about today, it is absolutely imperative that we possess this gluttonous hunger for more faith and more of God. Cohesive, not easily pulled us under, relentless, tough. Those are all great words that should describe the faith that we have in Christ and the walk that we're on with him as we follow him. We need to be people of tenacious faith.

Now, you know what faith means. Hebrews 11:1, faith is the substance of things hoped for. It's the evidence of things unseen. So, in essence, faith is believing without seeing. Knowing for certain without possessing proof. But faith is more than just feeling or belief. Faith is possessing a belief so strong that it prompts action. So it's believing without seeing so much that you're going to do what needs to be done that faith requires of you. And you add tenacious or tenacity to that. You possess a tenacious faith, you're going to keep doing that thing. If God tells you to hold on, you're going to keep holding on. If God tells you to walk, you're going to keep walking. Amen. We love that scripture in the New Testament that says ask, seek, and knock, right? But the true translation says, "Keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking until." Amen. In order for you to get to that until the fruit of your faith, you have to keep on trucking. Look at your neighbor and say, "Keep on trucking." Amen. You got to keep moving forward in faith, which means you have to possess a tenacious faith.

Now, when I think of the word tenacious and I look up the definition, you know, where it says, you know, holding fast, clinging persistently to something, a firm hold, stubborn, vicious. There's one animal on planet Earth I think of. Some people love this animal, some people hate this animal. It's got one of the most fiercest bites. But no matter how hard the bite is, it's actually how long that this bite can last. And this is the bite of the pitbull. Yeah, I said pit bull. Some of you were like, "Whoa," and others like, "Yeah," you know, for some people pitbull is like, man, that's that is the epitome of tough toughness. For other people, it's the epitome of of viciousness, right? And it's like it's it's scary. But rather whether you fear it or you love it, a pitbull is known for its bite and not just for the sharpness of its teeth, but the longness the the length of its hold. You really have to get between that pit bull and its prey in order to release. And that is not an easy thing to do. Even the owners of the pit bulls, no matter how well trained that dog is, sometimes have a hard time getting that dog off of whatever other animal or being that that thing has sunk its teeth into. Amen. I've seen people try to spray the dog, punch the dog. I mean, outlandish things to try to get it to release its bite and it just will not. So according so so you know looking at this I want you to be a pitbull of the faith. Amen. I want you to be a pitbull of the faith to hold on to Jesus with a pitbull grip. That's what it that that is what is necessary in order for us to win this race, to complete the race, to get to the end. Because everyone else, they're going to let go. They're going to let go. As soon as things get a little bit tough, as soon as things get a little bit hard, difficult, rough waters start to approach. Some people won't even allow themselves to hit the rough waters. They'll just see it far off and be like, "Yeah, that's not for me." Amen. But not you, not you. You're going to hold on like a what? Like a pitbull. Amen.

So God desires for us to possess a faith that is rooted in him that is tougher than any problem the world can throw at us. A faith that can keep us in a relentless pursuit of purpose and destiny no matter what. That that should be our our motto. No matter what I'm going to serve Jesus, no matter what. I'm going to follow Jesus no matter what. I'm going to stay the course no matter what. This morning, we're going to look at three people from the Bible who personified this type of faith. Their stories are not are not the same. They're they're different in in in so many different respects. Their circumstances like ours are completely different and each of them you'll see a different face or expression of faith, but it is faith all the all the all the same. And and they can only be described as a tenacious faith. It's a faith that binds these stories and these people together, and it's a faith that makes them relevant to us today. So, when we're talking about tenacity, we're talking about uh uh possessing a pitbull grip of faith.

First person I always think about is brother Job. I love the story of Job. In fact, the the the story of Job got me reading the Bible in the first place. I love Job. In fact, our first child that we attempted to bring in this to into this world was going to be named Job. Now, the Lord took that little guy home. Uh, that was our our first miscarriage that that that we uh that we experienced, and it was a tough one. But we know that little Job is in the presence of the Lord. Amen. Praise God. Absence from the body is presence with the Lord. So, we believe that. But I love this story and that name so much and what it represents that we were going to name our first child that. So his story is absolutely important especially when we're talking about possessing a tenacious faith. Job is most commonly known for his patience. Sometime sometimes you hear, "Oh man, that that guy, he possesses the patience of Job," right? Maybe you've heard that, maybe you haven't. It's kind of an old uh phrase that people have have spoken, but patience is not what jumps out at me when I read his story. He is patient, don't get me wrong, but his patience isn't what's prelevant here to me. It's something related to patience, but it's also very different. And he as if you ask me, it's a lot it's a lot deeper. It's tenacity. Job held on even when everything was pulling him away. Job stayed the course even though life was throwing him curveball after curveball after curveball. He held on to God.

Why? Well, first thing about Job you need to understand, he was a great man. Job was a great man. Okay, according to scripture, Job chap Job chapter 1:es 2 and 3, he was a man of the east who lived in a land of Uz. He had seven sons and three daughters. He owned different types of livestock, like thousands of head of of livestock. And the Bible tells us in Job uh chapter 1 verse 3 that he was the greatest man among all the people of the east. Man, that's saying something. We all live in the east east side. Could you imagine God giving you the t title the greatest person of all the east side? That that's a claim right there. They would have you in all the all the the parades. You'd be in the Memorial Day parade, the Cinco de Mayo parade. Here comes that car. There's a Cadillac. He's coming. Who is that? That's the greatest man on the east side or check me out. Right. That that's that is a title and Job possessed that title. Right here we see that Job is a pretty wealthy guy in more ways than one. By all the livestock that is mentioned, we can tell that he's rich in wealth and possessions. If you read through that first part of Job, you see how much livestock he had. This guy was a rich ranchetto man. He had a lot of money. He was a great man. Again, very very wealthy. We also read about his children, seven sons, three daughters, by how many he had. We can see that he loved his family. So he was also rich not just in wealth but in legacy. He loved his kids. But you can really tell what is important to God, what really made him great in God's eyes by what is mentioned first about this man in Job. Job chapter 1 verse 1 says, "In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright." This man was blameless and upright. Here it comes. He feared God and he shunned evil. It wasn't God. It wasn't Job's riches, his livestock. It wasn't that he possessed that title, the greatest man on the east side. It wasn't all the kids that he had. We know that he was virile. He was he was potent, right? It wasn't all that. It wasn't wealth. It wasn't legacy. God, what stood out to him was that he feared him. Come on. What stood out to God was that Job feared him. It said he was blameless and upright. It was the fear of the Lord that caused Job to be blameless and upright. He walked the line. Amen. Job walked the line for God because he didn't just love him, he feared him. Folks, it is okay to fear God. In fact, you better fear God. It's the fear of God that helps us walk the line because I too want to be known as blameless and upright. Am I? Come on. But I want to be. And it's the fear of the Lord that will cause us to be that way. It's Job's devotion to God that is the highest or the highlight of his life that God focuses in on. It was his faith that made him stand out. And this is proven in the next set of scriptures as it informs us that Job's kids, they like to party. Yeah. Job's kids, they like to party. It says they would they would all hold, you know, parties at the different brother or sister's houses and they would be partying all night long. All right. All night. All night. Amen. But this is what Job did in the morning after a particularly long and crazy night of partying. Job would go out and sacrifice for his kids. Sacrifice one of his livestock for his children in the chance that one of them or all of them might have sinned before the Lord. Come on. Come on. Talk about a faithful father. Isn't just a a man who taught his children to love and fear God. But but even if something happened, you know, sometimes we we mess up, he went out every morning after he knew they were getting together and he would sacrifice on their behalf that if one of them might have sinned or all of them might have sinned, they might be forgiven by the Lord. It's crazy. But how many of you know faith cannot be measured just by how we live or act in times of prosperity and comfort? This is when Job was doing good. He was serving the Lord and that's great. But true faith is measured by how we live and act in times of trouble. So what happens? Job experiences great trials. We always hear about this, the trials of Job. This is the part of this account that really stuck with me and really draw like just draw my heart towards God was that a man could experience such trials and still praise the Lord. Right now you're seeing Job, he's high in the hog. He's he's living good. He's doing great. Livestock, servants, children, lots of land, riches. The guy is doing well. But then tragedy hits. God has a discussion with Satan. Says that all the angels including Satan came to present themselves before the Lord and God said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job?" And Satan looked at Job and said, "Yeah, what about him? He's a great man. There's nobody like him in all the east. There's nobody like him in all the earth. That guy is a great man." He goes, "Yeah, of course he is right now because he's blessed. Because you got your hand on him. Because you're protecting him. Let me touch his life and see how good he is to you." Come on. You guys have read the story, right? One day when when Job's sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house, a messenger came to Job and said, "The oxmen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, and the Sabians attacked and made off with all of them." They put the servants to the sword, and I'm the only one who has escaped to tell you. So, all of his donkeys are gone. Done. Servants that were taking care of the donkeys killed. While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, "The fire of God fell from the heavens and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I'm the only one who escaped to tell you." This was one right after the other. So, first his donkeys get taken and his servants get slain by the Sabians. And as that servant, who was the only one left alive, was reporting, another servant came and said, "Literally, fire fell from the heaven." Could you imagine if fire fell from the heavens and consumed all of your sheep and the servants who took care of them and only one remained? So all he's got left so far is whatever livestock he's got and two servants. Okay, we go on. While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, "Your sons and your daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them, and they are dead. And I'm the only one who has escaped to tell you." All of his riches, all of his wealth, in one fell swoop, gone. Just like that. In a in a matter of moments, everything that he held dear, that he possessed from belongings to his family are gone. They're wiped out. They're completely void. See, most people they measure their success and their wealth by what they have. And this is why Job or God loves Job so much because he doesn't measure himself his success by what he had. I mean, talk about being hit by hard times. You ever said that phrase, man, when it rains it pours? I can tell you right now, it doesn't hold a candle to what Job's going through. Right? When we say things like that, it's like they're they're trivial things. But seriously, when you look at his life, literally when it rains, it pours. One thing after another again, one fell swoop, everything is gone. Maybe you felt like this before, but he lost everything. But here is where Job's tenacious faith is revealed. This is why God loves him so much and why he said to Satan what he said. Have you considered my servant Job? Could you imagine if God was talking to the devil and he said, "Have you considered my servant Carlos? My servant Paul, my servant Vern?" Now you're in the hot seat. You watch out. It's right. Have I been Have I been who he thinks I am? Hey, God knows. He wouldn't be putting you before. He wouldn't be bragging on you if he didn't know. But could you imagine? So again, here is where Job's tenacious faith is revealed. Now, I don't have much to my name as a person. I got some things. Got a home, some vehicles. I got my family that I hold dear. Not just my wife and my kids, but my extended family. All of the things I hold dear. I don't have a lot, but I I got I got stuff. As far as being wealthy is concerned, I'm not that. But what little I do have, I hold dear. And I don't want to lose it. And if I were to lose it all in one fell swoop, could you imagine losing everything? Everything in one action. It would devastate you. But more than earthly possessions, my children, I mean, come on. Take all of my wealth. Take everything that I have. Again, it's not much, but my babies, those are my babies. I got five of them, and I'd like to hold on to each and every one of them. Again, we've heard, you've heard me talk about there's a part of me that wishes they stayed little forever, but then there's that other part of me that's excited for who they're going to become as men and women of God and who they're going to marry and what grandkids they're going to give me. Hallelujah. I can't wait to be called Grandpa. I already look like one. If I don't get to be grandpa, I'm going to turn into Santa Claus. Pastor Ken, you'll see me at the mall at Christmas time. Pastor Matt, what are you doing there? I'm Santa, man. Be quiet. You know, but but I love my kids. So, you to take everything else. But my kids, that's my legacy. Those are my babies. It would devastate me. It would devastate me. You could take what little I have in wealth and I could still bounce back. But you take my kids, I don't know what I would do. I would love to tell you that I'd be all right. I would love to tell you that and I hope I would, but I can't tell you that. But look at what Job does at this. Job got up. He tore his robes. He shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb. Naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. May the name of the Lord be praised." In his sorrow and his brokenness, he worshiped God. Come on. There was no complaining. There was no raising his fist to the heavens and and cussing at God. There was no, "How dare you? How could you do this to me? I served you with everything. You bragged on me and then you allowed this to happen." There was no hatred or vitriol. There was only praise. Naked I came from my mother's womb. Naked I will depart. The Lord gave. The Lord is taken away. May the name of the Lord be praised. Blessed be the name of the Lord. There was power in that praise. In the midst of his heartbreak and loss, he is still able and willing to worship. This here would be enough to prove that Job possessed a tenacious faith. However, this is only part. After this, in chapter 2:7, Satan

Is allowed to test Job again. Wait, there’s more to the test. There’s a part two.

Yeah, because remember, Satan said, “Just let me touch his life a little bit. Let me touch what he has, what he possesses, his wealth, his legacy, and he’ll curse you.” And when he didn’t do that, God gave Satan a second chance. And he goes, “Okay, you just let me touch his let me touch his body, and I can guarantee he’s going to curse you to your face.” And we say we see that Satan, like usual, is wrong again. He’s allowed to touch his body. This time inflicting his inflicting his body head to toe with painful sores that Job decides to remedy by scraping at them with jagged pieces of broken pottery. You see that picture right there? Doesn’t even do it justice. He had boils from the top of his head to the soles of his feet. Every inch of his body was covered. And it said in his agony, the only relief that he could see was taking pottery, breaking it, and scraping them off of his body. Look at your neighbor and say, “Ew.” That’s the truth, right? That’s a very conservative answer there. Not only is that disgusting, but it had to be painful. I mean, the sores are painful enough, but resorting resorting to scraping them off with broken pottery. Job was in agony. He’d lost everything, and now his health is in question. He’s inflicted with constant pain and agony.

What does he do while he’s doing this? His wife says to him, and this is this is the cherry on the on the Sunday. This is the the epitome, right? Because his wealth is gone, his legacy is gone, his health is gone, but at least he’s got his faithful wife. At least he’s got the woman that God gave him, his partner. Right? So, while he’s doing this, his wife says to him, “Are you still holding on to your integrity? Why don’t you just curse God and die already?” Ow. Could you imagine being in such agony, mentally, physically, spiritually, and your partner in life basically tells you you’re better off dead? Everything is gone. This is the the epitome of loss and pain. And at this point, I don’t know what would be worse, the pain of the sores or the fact that his wife, who should be his biggest supporter, encourager, and his greatest source of help, is in essence turning her back on him. Talk about adding insult to injury, literally.

And just where you and I would be at our breaking point, Job’s tenacious faith shines through yet again as he says to his wife, “You are talking like a foolish woman.” Yeah. He says, “Shall we accept the good from God and not the trouble? Shall we not accept the good from God and not the trouble? We live in a sinful world. We live in a fallen world. Just because we’ve lost things, just because I’m sick does not mean that God is not good and that God does not sit on the throne. Whether he gives or he takes away, whether I experience loss or gain, blessed be the name of the Lord, he is still God. He is still worthy to be praised. Amen. And he is the author and the finisher of our life and our story. And faithfulness is rewarded. He is it is rewarded. Job’s faith in God is proved nothing less than tenacious as he praises him through the storms in his life. In the face of extreme physical pain, at the loss of his children, the betrayal he received from his wife, he falls to his knees and he worships God. Go to the end of the book and you see that God is God has blessed Job many times over than he was before. All because of his faithfulness. You want to be blessed like Job multiple times over than you already are? Build a tenacious faith in your life. Amen.

Let’s look at the second example. It’s another good one: Abraham. Abraham is a great example of tenacious faith. Why? Because he gave all except for his faith. He gave up everything to follow God. To put his faith and his trust in God. Abraham followed God by faith. That’s the one thing you need to know about him. When you want to talk about somebody who followed God, you think about Abraham. This is just when he was Abram. When he barely started to hear the voice of God, God calls out to him. The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people, and your father’s household to the land that I will show you.” That’s Genesis 12:1. Abram is praying or he’s just going about his business when the voice of God speaks to him and instructs him no commands him to leave the comforts of his father’s home, the familiarity of his father’s country and go to a land that I will show you. He didn’t even give him a destination. He didn’t even provide him with a map. Amen. He just said, “Go and I will show you.” In fact, the showing wouldn’t happen until Abraham would go. Some of you are waiting for a map. Some of you are waiting for a destination. Some of you are waiting for some sort of detailed marching orders plan. When God has said go, and when you do, that’s when he’s going to show you. Amen. I know it’s scary. In fact, it’s downright terrifying to some of us because if you’re the kind of person that loves to have at least a little bit of control in your life, this kind of a command freaks you out. Amen. Maybe you’re the type of person that loves to have detailed information to what you’re about to do. I’m that type of person when my wife throws just like these little sort of orders at me. I’m like, “Hold on, hold on, hold on, wait, wait, wait. Okay, I need to know what’s going on here, honey. Lorraine, I need you to tell me what’s going on because you’re just saying these things to me and and they’re going, all I’m hearing is I need detailed information.” And so I’ll call her, I’ll text her. Okay, where am I going? Who’s going there? What time do I have to be there? How am I getting them there? Do I breathe in between somewhere? I need her to tell me what to do. So when God says, “Go and I will show you.” I’m like, “You didn’t wire me like that. You didn’t wire me like that, God. I I I need some instruction here.” And he says, “Go.” Yeah, but where? I’ll show you. Okay. Where is that? Go now. Go. Go to the land that I will show you.

You know what Abraham did? So Abraham went, “What?” Imagine you’re in prayer and God says, “Get up and go.” Your natural response to God would be anywhere, Lord. Where? And then he says, “No, just go.” Like out the door. Well, of course, that’s where you’re going to go first, right? Just start walking and I’ll show you. I’ll reveal it to you. That’s not comfortable. That’s very That causes very a lot of discomfort in a person’s soul. But listen, scripture says it. Genesis 12:4. So Abraham went as the Lord had told him. Man, talk about starting off on a good foot. Talk about starting off right. Abraham heard the command of God. Go to the land I will show you. And he said, “Okay.” And he went. He got up and he went. He left the comforts of home and family to follow this God who just called him out of the blue. Now, if you were planning to build up a mighty nation using one man like God was about to do, I’d say you’d probably want to start with a guy like this. He says, “Go.” And so Abraham went, “Yep, I got the right guy.” He’s probably like bumping his angels going, “I didn’t even tell him where to go.” And look at he’s walking. Could you imagine? I think God has a sense of humor. He’s probably nudging Michael. Look, I told I told you he would go. That guy’s faithful. Look, he’s walking already. I better go catch up to him so I can tell him where to go. Right? And and you see in Abraham’s story that he gave him step by step. He was he went before him and Abraham followed God. He held on to his faith in God who would lead him with tenacity and veracity. The guy was faithful in following the Lord. Anyone who was willing to drop everything and follow you, no questions asked, that guy is going to be an asset. And Abraham, Abram at this point turned out to be a pretty good asset. Abraham believed God’s promises by faith. Abraham believed everything that God told him by faith. And if you read the story of Abraham, if you go through with him on his journey, you see that if he didn’t have that faith, that tenacious faith, he wouldn’t have made it because God did some amazing things through this man and he put him through through some some some gruesome tests, some crazy tests of his faith. And if he wouldn’t have passed those things, he wouldn’t have been the man that God called him to be. and he wouldn’t have been rewarded the way that God promised that he would reward him. It was all because he passed those test tests. Why? Because he believed God’s promises by faith.

In Genesis 15, God promises to make him into the father of a mighty nation, which would be a challenge. Because his wife uh Sai was physically unable. She was what the Bible called barren, right? She was unable to physically produce children. And so God came to him and said, “You’re going to be the father of a mighty nation.” And he was like, like figuratively, right? Anybody ever said anything to you like that? And you’re like, “Wait, not really, right? Cuz that’s impossible.” Abraham was like, “Wait a minute. Hold on. Wait, what? No, Abraham. I’m going to make you the father of a mighty nation. Your offspring will be the seed, the firstborn of a mighty nation. God promised it and in verse 15 it says Abraham believed the Lord and it was credited to him as what? Righteousness. So not only is he fa does he have faith tenacious faith but that tenacity that tenacious faith earned him righteousness. You know what righteousness is right? It’s being right with God. So even though he would have some issues and did some things, right, like us sinners, he was considered righteous by God because of the measure of faith that he was given that he invested in the Lord that he put in the Lord. He believed when God said, “I’m going to make you the father of a mighty nation. Even though your wife can’t produce children,” he believed that and it was credited to him as righteousness. When you believe what God tells you, even though it goes against every natural sort of block in your mind, when you believe in him and you trust in him and you go his way, regardless of your fear, God blesses you. God honors you and God will make you into something bigger than you are right now. Somebody say amen to that today. Abraham believed the Lord and it was credited to him as righteousness.

Regardless of physical impossibilities, Abraham chose to trust God. God had always come through for him. He never failed him. He always protected him. He always blessed him to this point. He had no reason to distrust him now. He’s come through for me. He He’s batting a hundred. The guy never misses. Anytime I need him, God is there. So if he tells me right now that the impossible is going to become possible, I have no reason to disbelieve. Come on, somebody. You have a whole book, a whole book filled with proof that God does what he promises, that God comes through when he says he’ll come through. God can make impossible situations absolutely possible. Why would we ever disbelieve? Why would we ever say, “God, you can’t?” Because we know that God is able. Amen. The only thing that he knows is that he can and he will if you follow and you believe. Amen. So regardless of that physical impossibilities, Abraham chose to trust God because he’d always come through for him before. He’s not going to fail him now.

For 25 years, that’s how long it took God to fulfill that promise. 25 years from the promise I’m going to make you the father of a mighty nation to the day that the boy was born. 25 years. Could you imagine waiting 25 years for a promise? That’s longer than some of y’all been alive. Amen. That that’s longer than some of y’all been saved. 25 years. Look at your neighbor. Say, “That’s a long time.” Ever wonder why it took God 25 years to fulfill that promise to Abraham? That’s one of those questions we ask, right? One of those things that make you go, right? Like, why did God take take that long? Well, that’s how long it took for Abraham to become the man God wanted him to be. A man who wouldn’t mishandle or mistreat a responsibility so great as the firstborn son of a mighty nation, the first son of destiny and promise. Same question. Why did God take so long with Abraham? How did God keep the children of Israel walking in the desert for 40 years? Because that’s how long it took for them to become the people of the promise. Why did it take 25 years? It took 25 years because that’s how long it took Abraham to become that man. To become worthy of the promise. Some of you, God is giving you a promise right now. And you’re expecting it to come to pass like it’s going to happen in the next couple days. God, you’re not waiting on God. God’s waiting on you. Some somebody needs to hit that one today. Somebody needs to Somebody needs to hear that today. God, you are not waiting on God to fulfill that promise. God is waiting on you to fulfill that promise. He’s waiting for you to start to number one believe in that promise, take responsibility for that promise, and be the person to possess that promise. Amen. Let’s get to work. Amen. Let’s get to work and be that people. Amen. Let’s not make God wait forever. Let’s do whatever we can to start the process now.

But at the end of that 25-year-long period, we see in Genesis 21 that God comes through on his promise just as Abraham knew he would. And listen, I I didn’t even mention the mistake that Abraham made while he was waiting. Sometimes when you’re waiting on things, you think God is taking a little longer than he should. Sometimes we get foolish and think that we should probably maybe maybe God needs a little bit bit of my help. Let me tell you something. God does not need your help. Do not try to help God fulfill any promise that he ever makes you unless he asks you to. And that’s what Abraham did. He says, “Maybe God needs my help to answer this prayer.” His wife says to him, “Hey, you know, we have a problem. You know, I I I can’t give birth to children. So maybe God wants you to sleep with my handmaid Hagar. And so Abraham goes, “Okay.” And he did. And they produced a son, and his name was Ishmael. That was not the seed of the mighty nation that God was talking about. And later on down the line, Sarah becomes pregnant, a woman who could not before, but by the hand of God through a mighty miracle, she brings a seed in her elderly years. She was 90 years old. She should be a grandma like 50 times over. And she’s producing a son, an heir. And Isaac was born. He was the seed. He was the promised child that would birth a nation. And because Abraham tried to help God, we see what’s going on in the Middle East today where brother is against brother, Arab versus Jew, Ishmael against Isaac, fighting for the birthright. See what happens when you try to help God? Lesson, don’t help God. He can do it. He’s able. Amen. He’s more than able and he don’t need your help unless he asks for it. Amen. So, he and his wife rejoice. They name him Isaac. And for a couple of decades, all is right with the world until God decides to call on Abraham once again. And this time, God tests Abraham’s faith. Abraham’s faith is now tested. He’s possessed it. He’s shown it. He’s proven it. And now God is testing its worth. Is it only because I gave him a son? Is it only because I’ve been there for him every single step of the way? What if you take that component out of the the equation? What if I remove the son? Will he still be faithful?

Sometime later, God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham, here I am,” he replied. Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the region of Mariah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain that I will show you.” Could you imagine waking up one morning greeting God? Morning Lord. He’s Hey, I want to talk to you. Sure. What what’s up? You know that son I gave you. Your only son. I want you to take him to the to Mount Mariah and I want you to sacrifice him as a burnt offering there. Now, you and I would probably throw a fit. We’d get mad at God again. Cuss him out, a whole bunch of other things, turn our backs on him, talk bad about him, tell everybody that he’s a conniver, he just gives and then he takes away. But we heard that before. But see, he he probably knew the story of Job. Maybe, maybe not. Timeline it was after. But but there’s but there’s a the idea of faithfulness, right? But Abraham, he doesn’t get mad. You never see him get crazy. At this point, Abraham could have acted in any number of ways. He could have gotten angry, raised his fist in defiance. He could have fell to pieces, curled up in a fetal position, and sobbed. He could have lost his mind, and just went completely crazy. Or he could have just simply turned around, grabbed his son, and in complete defiance and rebellion, walked back home, and never listened to the voice of God again. But he didn’t do these things. Instead, the Bible tells us in Genesis 22:3, “Early the next morning, Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.” Not only did he go, but he did all that God instructed him to do. Not only am I not not going to go, I’m going to do everything that God told me to do. I’m doing this because I He’s never failed me. So why would he fail me now?” I said that when he promised a son and we physically couldn’t have one and look what he did. So now when God is asking of me of this blessing, why would I hold it back? Now, we’d be foolish to think that he’s not having an inner struggle. He’s not thinking in his mind, God gave this gift to me. Why would he take it away? Why would he why would he ask for it now? If he’s supposed to be a seed, then why would you pluck the seed out of the ground? What’s going on? But the Bible never tells us he does that. It just says that he did what God instructed. Why? Because that’s what a tenacious faith would have you do. It’s not just tenacious when things are good. It’s tenacious even when and especially when things aren’t so good. In fact, your tenacious faith matters more when you’re going through it than when you’re celebrating on the mountaintop. Amen.

And as he raised up his knife on that mountain, I mean, could you imagine? He sends his servants home because he didn’t want them to see what they what he was about to do. They probably wouldn’t understand it. So, he sends them home. Him and his son take everything. Could you imagine being being Isaac that day? Carrying the wood that’s going to burn you, right? Hold the wood, son. Dad, what are we doing? We’re going up to the top of the mountain to give a sacrifice. Well, where’s the sacrifice? He said, “God will provide.” Little did he know that he had already provided. Now, Isaac wasn’t a little kid. He was probably in his older teens, maybe even early 20s. Abraham was old. He was like 25, 130 years old by this time. Isaac could have took him. Isaac could have been like, “Hey, I know what’s going on here. I don’t see no animals up here. Am I the sacrifice?” Bow and then ran away. Threw the wood, pushed his dad down, and ran away. But the Bible says he didn’t he didn’t do that. He kind of figured it out, especially when Abraham told him to lay the wood on the altar and he grabbed rope and started to bind to Isaac’s hand. Puts him on top of those sticks, the kindling for the fire, and raises his knife above his only son, Isaac. And as he raised up his knife to kill his son and offer him as a burnt offering in complete and total obedience, God stopped him and said, “Do not lay a hand on the boy. Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” Look at your neighbor and say, “Shut up.” That’s crazy. That’s crazy. Some some people go, “Why would God do that though? There was what better test of faith than asking you to offer up the one thing that you’ve always prayed for? You think God is beyond that?” And here’s the thing. God spared the son of Abraham. But for you, he didn’t spare his own son. I want you to hear that today. You say, “How dare God?” No. How dare us? Don’t think anything negative of this test that he went through. God is going to ask you, God is going to have you offer up the thing that you love the most too in your life because we can’t love anything more than God. If we love his blessings more than the one who blesses, we’ve got it wrong. And he’s going to ask us to switch that. It may not be as dramatic as this, but in order to save us, he will present us with that that challenge. But even though he he allowed the son of Abraham to survive, he did not spare his own son for you, for love, for your salvation, to have you reconciled back to him. He allowed his son to be offered up as a sacrifice for us. Come on, somebody. Somebody say amen. Somebody say hallelujah today. So, so God didn’t just put Abraham through it. He put himself through it as well. But the only difference is he let his son die for you. Amen. And just like there were two worshippers on Mount Mariah that day. There was a sacrificer and the sacrifice who gave of himself. Same thing on Mount Calvary. Same thing on Golgtha. God was giving his son and the son was giving his life. Amen. That’s what God did for us. That’s the beauty of the tenacious faith of Abraham. Amen.

And here’s the last example this morning and we’ll close with this. Right here, we can see Abraham’s faith can only be described as tenacious, right? That tenacious faith he possessed was expressed in his undying devotion to God through obedience. But here’s another example that not so much is known about, and that’s the persistent widow of Luke 18. I love this woman. I talk about her a lot. Because she personifies what we should have as followers of Christ. The persistent widow. She gave her all because of her faith. Not much is known about this woman, only that she was a widow. She needed justice for what? We don’t know, but we know it was very important to her. The judge continually denied her that justice that she sought. We don’t know why either, but the Bible does call him a wicked judge who didn’t fear God. So, it could have been out of just sheer wickedness. You got some bad people out there, folks. Do you know that? You got some bad people who will do bad things to good people for no reason other than they’re bad. Amen. There’s some people out there who are who are just trapped in sin. They’re hurting. There could be a whole bunch of reason, whole slew of reasons why they do the ugly things that they do. But for some, it’s just because their heart is darkened by evil. They’re wicked and they do wicked things. So, for whatever reason, this widow who needed justice was continually shut down by this wicked judge. But she persisted. She was relentless. Everybody say relentless. She was tenacious. She possessed a tenacity like no other because it said day after day after day she would come back and ask the judge for justice. Worship team, would you come help me close this morning? And here’s the here’s the awesome thing about her. This is what this is why she jumps out at Jesus and why he feels it’s so important to tell his disciples about her. This is she wouldn’t take no for an answer. She wouldn’t take no for an answer. That’s that’s tenacity personified. I will

Not take no for an answer. I know the judge said no, but I'm entitled to justice. I know I can have it. God says I can. So, I'm going to keep coming back regardless of what this wicked judge says to me. If he says no, I'm gonna come back tomorrow and hope it'll be a yes. If he says no, then I'm going to come back the next day and hope and pray that it's a yes. And if he says no, then and so on and so forth, persistence, relentlessness, tenacity, even though the judge had a bad reputation that says he didn't fear God and he didn't respect men.

Those are bad qualities for a judge. Can I tell you that? Because as judges, even in the with the laws of the land, the laws of this land are based on the commandments of God. They're based on the Bible. If you didn't know that, study a little bit of American history. Our Constitution, the whole reason why it doesn't work in this society right now, why so many people are questioning it and wanting to do away with it, is because the Constitution, the Constitution, was made by men who feared God and held to biblical tenants. And in this day and age where we're trying to kick God out of everything, it doesn't make sense to us. You hear what I'm saying? In order to be a judge who judges right from wrong, you have to have a good grasp on what right and wrong is. And by the very fact that he was a wicked man, he had no business being a judge. You get that? He was out of place. It wasn't the woman. It wasn't the widow. She was entitled to what she was asking for. And by all intents and purposes, he should have given it to her straight away. But instead, because of his wickedness, because he neither feared God or respected man, he allowed his wickedness to rule and kept her coming back. He probably thought it was funny. He probably thought he was really doing something to this woman, really inflicting her with some pain. Little did he know, she knew her God and she knew his promises.

Listen, I don't care if you're a widow. I don't care if you've lost everything in your life except for your faith. Just like Job, you hold on, God's going to come through on his promises for you. At some point, he is going to come through for you. That's a promise. That's from the word of God. That's not according to me. That's according to scripture. Okay? So she wouldn't take no for an answer. But again, this judge neither feared nor respected men. These two things tell me that that his decision as a judge were not only harsh but wrong as well. When you don't respect people, you tend to mistreat them. And the Bible tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Judges should have wisdom. If you don't fear God, guess what? You're dumb. You don't have wisdom. You are the opposite of wise. You're dumb, unintelligent, the lack of wisdom because there is no fear of God. This judge did not fear God. So just like with this widow, there was probably a lot of injustices coming out of his courtroom.

But all this didn't matter to the widow. Even though he had refused her several times, day after day, she kept coming back. Look at your neighbor and say, "She kept coming back." Day after day, she would return again. In the beginning, he thought it was funny. Look at here. She comes again. Watch this. Watch this. She can ask me for justice. I'm going to say no. Give me justice. No. Could you imagine? It's like a comedy sketch. Until one day it flipped. He looks out at her. He ain't laughing anymore. Oh my god, she's here again. Why does she keep coming back? She knows I'm going to say no. No. She goes home next day. Oh my gosh, she's here again. No, I'm not giving it to you. She goes home. Next day, guess what? She shows up again. He's like, "Dude, I'm calling in sick. I can't do this." And at one point, he he's he literally freaks out. He literally freaks out. He says, "This lady, this lady's no joke." His refusal did not sway her resolve at all. She desired justice and she was going to get it. What did we say? No, no matter what, if I have to come every single day. And guess what? Her persistence paid off. Her relentless pursuit of justice wore the judge out. He was laughing in the beginning, but at the end, he was scared of her.

In fact, the scriptures tell us that seeing her face day in day out, hearing her constant plea for justice and probably just the anxiety, is she going to show up today? Then bam, there she is. Here I am, judge, coming to get my justice. God said you're going to give it to me. Maybe today's the day, maybe not. But I'll be back tomorrow if it's not. It was funny to her now because she could see him shaking in his boots. He was laughing before, but he's not anymore. And he finally says in Luke 18:5, "Yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice so that she won't eventually come and attack me." She was like, "I'm getting that justice. You're giving me that justice." He said, "I'm going to make sure that she gets justice because if she doesn't, I think this lady is going to get me." He was afraid of her by the end because nobody without God's help can be that persistent, that tenacious. And and that's there lies the rub. That that that's the trick. Oh, you could be stubborn in your whole life, but stubbornness only goes so far. True faith, true tenacious faith can only be because of God. Because of where you place your faith. Every one of us, the Bible says, is given a measure of faith. It's where you choose to invest it. What you put your faith in. And when you put your faith in God, even when the wickedness of this world says no, God will make it so that it's turned into a yes. He will do that for you. He will do that for me. He will give you justice. This judge gave in to her persistence all because she wouldn't take that no for an answer. She had already heard from God that it was a yes. So, I'm going to come until your no turns into that yes. Amen. That's powerful.

Now, this parable that Jesus told us about this persistent widow was to teach his disciples about faith through persistence in prayer. Listen to what he says to them. And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says, and will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?" I tell you, he will see that they get justice and quickly. Jesus was using this parable to teach his disciples to continue seeking God, to continue asking him, to continue praying until he says yes, unless his answer is no. Because you remember, God does have the right to say no. Make sure you're listening so you can hear the no and stop praying that. But if he hasn't said no yet and he's having you keep praying, then keep praying. Keep asking. Keep seeking. Keep knocking. Be relentless. Be tenacious and chase that thing down because God is not a wicked judge. He's a good good father. Amen. And he gives good gifts to his children when they ask him. So keep asking.

We have seen something amazing in these three people this morning. We've seen faith lived out out loud. Not just held in as a feeling or a belief, but as an action. An unshakable, unwavering, relentless, and active power. Faith is a superpower, but it can only do things when it's active. When it's activated. You can't just hold it in and say, "I have faith." Don't just possess faith, activate your faith and let that faith be relentless. And like these three, our worship, our obedience, and our persistence in prayer should never cease because things get tough. Rather, they should increase. God rewards those who possess faith and God rewards those who express faith. Listen to this scripture from Deuteronomy 11:es 22-2 right there on the screen. If you carefully observe all these commands, I am giving you to follow, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, and to hold fast to him, to tenaciously follow him. Then the Lord will drive out these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and stronger than you. Every place where you set your foot will be yours. Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River to the Western Sea. No man will be able to stand against you. The Lord your God, as he promised you, will put the terror and fear of you on the whole land wherever you go.

Well, as we know, God was talking to his people. He was talking to Israel in this scripture. But today, he's talking to you just like he spoke to them that if you hold fast in your faith to God, if you possess a tenacious faith in Jesus, he will protect you. He will grow you. He will strengthen you. He will put the fear of you in the heart of the enemy. And nothing, not a man, not a demon, not a sickness, nothing will be able to stand in your way and block you from possessing what God has promised you. Amen. That's the promise of God today. God promised right here. And he promised in Luke 18 that he will answer those who pray like this widow with persistence no matter what or no matter who stands in their way. And likewise he says in Psalm 37:4 that those who delight themselves in him, those who worship him like Job did even in the presence of both emotional and physical pain, they will receive the desires of their heart. Amen. John 8:31, Isaiah 1:19. These are other scriptures that speak that kind of faith to us. He also says in those that those who walk in obedience to God's commands like Abraham did, no matter how difficult or unpopular those commands might be, those folks will eat the good of the land and they will be called his disciples. This is the type of faith that can be described by only one word and that's tenacious and that's the type of faith that God wants us to have. This is the type of faith that God is looking for in his people. But look what G Jesus said or what he asked in Luke 18:8. However, when the son of man comes, will he find such faith on the earth? He ended that powerful story about that woman with a question to his disciples of which you are one. When he comes, when the son of man comes, will he find such faith on the earth? On the earth, will he find such faith in us? Amen.

Let's stand to our feet this morning. God, we thank you this morning for your word. We thank you for what you've spoken to our hearts today of what you desire from us as far as faith is concerned. You don't want us to possess a weak faith, a small faith, a faltering faith, a faith that's there sometimes and not not there at others. A faith that waivers. That's not what you want from us. You want a strong faith. Even faith the size of a mustard seed is strong enough to move a mountain. But it's steady. It's constant. It's consistent. It's a faith that is planted in you, rooted, grounded in you. Your word tells us that we all possess a measure of faith. But again, it's where we invest it. It's where we place that faith. And when we place that faith in you, even if it's a small measure, then that that faith is well placed. If it's placed in you, God, you desire for us to have a faith that is vicious, a faith that is tenacious, a faith that is relentless, that is persistent, that keeps going even when things try to stop us. You desire for us to possess a faith that can move mountains and more. But this earth, this world that we live in, it tries to break that faith down every single day. It throws curveball after curveball after curveball at us. And sometimes we feel it's just consistently swing and a miss, swing and a miss, swing and a miss. But you're still with us. And more than that, you are still for us and not against us. You are there cheering us on and continuing to to to scream out our names, to hold fast, to hold on to faith, to be tenacious and not let go, to persist. And God, eventually we see the victories. We we eventually we we we we feel the successes coming, the victories coming, Lord. We see them happening. God, that's the type of faith that you want from your people today.

But maybe there are some who are here where their faith has been whittleled down to next to nothing. They've experienced pain after pain, like Job did. They lost this, then lost that, and lost this person, lost that person. Their faith has taken hit after hit after hit, and it's waning. It's fading. It's failing. That's why they're here this morning, because you wanted them here to hear this message. it's for them. If that's you today and your faith has been taken hit after hit, your faith is struggling today. I don't want you to be afraid or ashamed of that. It happens. You're a human. It happens to us. But what makes you different is that you're going to place what faith you have left in the God of miracles and the God who can turn impossible situations into possible ones. The God who has never failed you and never let you down no matter what. Today, I'm calling on you to put your faith in God. What little faith you have left to place it in Jesus. If that's you today, your faith is taking a hit. You're suffering. You're struggling in your faith today. I want you to come to this altar right now. Come on. Come down to this altar. No shame, no fear. It's all right. Nobody's judging you today. Especially God. God wants you here so he can work on your heart. God wants to work on you and spend time with you and just remind you that he's with you and that he's for you, not against you. Come on right now. If that's you, come. Come on in Jesus name. I'm going to ask our prayer partners to come at this time. Our deacons, your spouses, can you please come pray for those who are here at this altar? Stand with them. Lay your hands on them. Pray for them. Partner with them today in that belief and that faith that God is going to strengthen them today.

If you're here and you say, "Pastor Matt, I got faith. I'm walking it, but I but I want to do more with that faith. I want to see God just elevate me and and and and use me to do more." If that's you today, come down to this altar, find a place up here, stand before the Lord, kneel before him, God, get on your face before the Lord, and just ask God for more. It's all right to ask for more. More faith, more strength, more power, more ability to do what he's called you to do. come and chase God for more today in Jesus' name right now at this altar. And maybe you're here and you you're going through some things. You got some issues going on in your life and you need somebody to stand with you. Maybe you're you're experiencing some struggles, maybe some marital issues, some issues with children, maybe there's some some health issues going in your life, financial uh circumstances. We want you to know that we are here for you in this as well. We got prayer partners are up here who can pray with you. If you want to spend some time at this altar just calling on the name of the Lord. Come bring those needs. Bring those issues to this altar. Approach God. He is here for you and he has the answers that you need right here and right now. The worship team is going to lead us in a song. But we want you to just come before the Lord. Seek his face right here and now and let God bring the answer in Jesus name. Amen. Come on. Right now, the altars are open. If you have to leave today, God bless you. We thank you for being here. We pray that God goes with you as you leave. We want to see you next week. We pray that you come through and celebrate Memorial Day with us. But we release you in Jesus' name. If you have to leave, God bless you. But those who want some prayer, come down to this altar. We will pray for you today. Amen. [Music] You're more real than the ground I'm standing [Music] on. You're more real than the wind in my love. Sing that verse again. You're born. You're more real than the ground I'm standing on. You're more real than the wind in my lungs. [Music] Oh, you're more real. Oh, [Music] yeah. Wo. Oh wo sing abu. [Music]