Endurance

00:03 Shall we do the confessions together? I believe in the Almighty God, our father and creator. I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, God and my Savior. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin. He suffered, died, and rose again. He ascended into heaven. He shall soon come again. I believe in God, the Holy Spirit, who is worshiped, and my God. I believe in holy fellowship, faithful giving and service to God in this church. I believe the Holy Bible is the perfect word of God. I am what it says I. I have what it says I have and I can do what it says I can do. Today here in my spiritual family, I am blessed, healed, and anointed for a holy and victorious living. I will never again be the same in Jesus' name. Amen. The Lord bless us. Please be seated. We've been studying on the topic of beatatitudes. Um, and we found that beatitude is not

01:07 what I thought it was. I thought beatitude means attitudes on how to be. That's a that's a rogue definition. A more accurate definition is about blessed living, joyful living. This month we've been studying and we continue to study on what makes a blessed living. One of the verticals today we want to cover is that God wants us to be people who have the stamina to endure. You cannot have a blessed life until we learn the importance of endurance. What's endurance? It's the gap between sewing and reaping. The space between making efforts and waiting for results. And endurance is the most required thing in that gap. It's the waiting period where your faith is really tested. Endurance really is the bridge, the period between God's promise and its fulfillment.

02:12 And unfortunately, all of us like comfort zones. We like to be in the comfort zone, the comfortable. Why? Why? Why do we get a better chair for comfortable seating? Why do we get a more better pillow or remove the old pillow? Better sleep. Why do we have a better phone? I don't know. But anyway, better communication. What? We all like to be in comfort. But endurance is outside the comfort zone. It is not in the very comfortable locations of life. But God calls us to endurance. And he says, if you really want to see salvation itself, you must be willing to endure. Look at Matthew's Gospel 24:3. But the one who endures to the end. Not just the ones who attend church once in a while, not just the ones who pray once in a while, the ones who've built the spiritual stamina to last till the end are the ones who are going to be

03:15 saved. And and for a blessed living, this is so important in our spiritual lives. We must build our commitment to Christ until death. Saying, "God, whether you answer my prayer, whether or not you give me a miracle, whether or not you do a healing, I am committed to you. Even if you don't answer my prayer, I'll be there in church worshiping you. Even if I don't see a breakthrough, I'll serve you, oh God. Even if nothing good happens, you are the best thing that could happen. Somebody today, God will pick endurance as a lifestyle. Amen. Come on, give God the hand clap you already want to give. Amen. True endurance is not only about how we begin, but about how faithfully we finish. It's not about how much you loved each other when you got married. It's about how well you are able to manage your marriage in love. The

04:21 longest period really is between the start and the finish. Students understand this well. The excitement of having got the admission and the stress, the challenge of examination are two interesting seasons. When you get into the college, oh boy, you are so happy. And when exams comes, there's again a rush. But between the admission and the exams is really what makes the students a success or failure. The habits you pick up, the attitudes you develop, the friends that you cherish are the ones who will choose what will happen in your life. It's between the finish and the start. the endurance that is so important. Most people in the boredom of normal periods of life, develop attitudes, develop friendships, develop habits that's not conducive,

05:24 that's against the admission you got and not helpful for the challenges and the exams you're going to meet. Endurance is very important. I usually advise couples. I say, you know, whenever you talk to each other, talk lovingly and respectfully and and don't develop sarcasm. Don't develop insult as a language of love. Develop respect and love as a language of love. If you really want to poke fun at somebody, let it not be your spouse. Let it not be your parents. Let it not be your children because what you speak is prophetic. Amen. Words have power. >> Build endurance as a character. When when outward progress is slow and you feel really dull, don't forget that you still have space for inward progress. You can grow on the inside, focusing, shaping us into something better than we ever been before, the most Christlike

06:29 version of ourselves. And this reward is really twofold. One is you not only get better results than what you wanted, but you yourself become a better person, a better Christlike version of yourself than you ever imagined. >> A lot of times when we go through sufferings and we go through the process of endurance, we're so concerned that we will get what we want. as a chef who is cooking a she's really really focused on cooking to put the salt at the right time to mix the ingredients at the right time to make sure that the temperatures are appropriate but in the process a lot of times the chef is not bothered to check about personal attitudes how well are you behaving with your assistants what's happening to the words you speak with those around you how about handling yourself. Well, God is not just looking at the product you're making. He's looking at the person you're becoming.

07:32 >> Amen. >> How you handle yourself, what you make of yourself. And God says endurance is important. Pastor, I've made my husband a success. Pastor, I've given my wife all the support. Fantastic. What did you make of yourself in the process? Have you remained a person of joy and faith and hope and covenant and goodness or have you become acurid, irritated, complaining and completely sometimes manipulating? God wants us to be people who endure through the seasons of life. And this is something that the Holy Spirit impressed in my heart. It's not just about the church you build. It's about the person you become. Because Jesus is not coming to marry pastors. He's coming to marry a bride for himself. You got to be careful of who you're becoming. And that's what endurance does to you. We must understand endurance really is God's refining fire.

08:36 The Bible meaning of the word endurance is to remain and progress under pressure. Shall we say that together? To remain and progress under pressure. Some people run away under pressure. Some people remain under pressure but don't progress. You must remain and progress. That's the meaning of the word endurance. Remain and progress under pressure. And and sometimes we think only failures are a pressure. No. Even success has a pressure of its own. You know success creates fear in our lives. fear of losing what you already have gained or the pressure, the stress to maintain or exceed the expectations you've already had for yourself. Crossing the benchmarks you've set for yourself. It's the stress of success. Now the company demands, now your family demands you outperform yourself on a higher level. It's stressful. It affects your behavior or the stress of failure. The fear of never being able to overcome

09:42 because you're being defined by your mistakes. The pressure to prove yourself after setbacks. Not able to pick up again. Both success and failure puts a lot of stress on people. The burden when you become successful there's so much more burden to perform under increased workload under the demands of higher leaderships that you have to handle. Your identity now is tied to your performance. It's such a hassle. I have seen people who were healthy, happy, but now that they got promoted and have become greater leaders, instead of becoming more happier, they have become more invisible because they're so mad at themselves and people around them. The stress has changed their character. They just want to avoid people that they can avoid. Want to be more lonely. Have got into vices to handle the stress. Getting into all kinds of excuses because success sometimes puts so much pressure

10:45 on you. You can't endure the success. Failure also does the same. The burden of consequences, of financial losses, missed opportunities and sometimes it hurts. Failure hits your reputation so much that you feel so pressured under it and you're not able to hold on and it has an effect on you. Anxiety and stress form you know what I call the staying on top fatigue a sense of loneliness. Nobody understands me. Same thing happens even for people who go through failure. A sense of discouragement, hopelessness and the fear that what happened in the past will happen again. And I want to tell you this, you don't be afraid of failure. Sometimes you fail simply because others are wrong. Sometimes you fail simply because others have misunderstood you. One journalist many years ago called me and uh said to me, I want to talk to you. are you free

11:49 for 1 hour? I said I'm not free for 1 hour. I don't remember if if the person mentioned the times said wanted to talk long. I said no I'm not free for 1 hour on the long on the phone and uh said okay and the second time third time they started calling and and it became a little rude you know why are you not available kind of a thing then I felt a little disturbed and I told that person I said look you're not a member of the church you're not a part of our church my phone number is not for journalists my phone number is for people in the church who need prayer who need something to communicate I'm not looking forward to an interview with with you. You know who I am. I said, I don't and I don't want to know. My question is, do you need prayer? Do you need help? If you want to talk longer, check with the church office. Come and meet me in the church. Don't keep calling me on my phone, please. The person got angry and wrote a book and I'm not going to tell the name of the book, but wrote a book and and and and that and one chapter is about me and it starts with the

12:52 superstar pastor of Bangalore. It's a negative connotation you know ah I felt so bad and and the person has referred to that phone call in a negative sense you know has put it in a negative sense I was thinking man this is bad and they sent me a copy and asked me do you want to edit anything also be before sent me a draft copy and then sent me the printed draft copy I read and I knew this was against me you know I mean anybody can make out that's negative But I thought to myself, it's okay. Let's see what happens because I wouldn't read that book unless they had sent it to me. So why would someone read? I left it at that. I I didn't ask for any edit. And then the book got printed. And then somebody called me from Mumbai and said, "Pastor, I read this book. It's written about you and one thing I know is superstar you are, but character what they said is the wrong thing." I said, "It don't matter because I didn't read that book. Nobody I know reads that book. And

13:54 interestingly that person's family started attending our church after she wrote that book. I tell you I tell you sometimes people will cause failure to your reputation because they misunderstood you. You try to say something but they didn't have the intelligence to understand it or they didn't have the perspective to understand it but they have the ability to hurt your reputation. They lie about you. They create evidence against you. And the best thing you can do is don't come under that stress, but stay enduring doing what God has called you to do. One day it will become a testimony I can use. Our God, come on, give him a big hand. Our God is a faithful God. Hallelujah. Our God is a faithful God. Now, when I tell you the story, most of you don't even know about the story because nobody reads her books. But when I say no one knows about whom I spoke but when they talk about me they

14:56 put it with name, address and details. But you know when God is on your side nothing can hurt you. >> When God is on your side you will endure by the grace of God. Hallelujah. You will endure by the power of the Holy Spirit. >> Amen. That is a reality. We we go through this. But don't waste your pain or pleasure. Allow God to refine you like gold in the fire. Let's say that together. Gold in the fire. Let's say that again. >> When you get burnt up, you'll come out like better gold. That's what Job said. Let's read the book of Job and chapter 23:10. But he knows the way I take. When he has tried me, I shall come out as. What is God saying? You'll not come out as trash when endurance has had its effect on you. You go through that success or the failure. You won't come out like some dirt. You will come out like gold because God's hand is still

15:59 working on your life. He's making you what you should be. Amen. But but the not so interesting thing is gold cannot be purified without fire. We all like to be purified with ice creams and chicken shavarmas. But God purifies us with fasting prayers. We all like to be purified with you know massaging soothing words but God sometimes speaks prophetically. Gold is refined through fire because you cannot be perfected without pressure. Trials are not meant to destroy you. They are only meant to refine you. When you go through the excruciating pressure of success, the responsibility. Some of you are complaining today because God gave you what you were asking for a few years ago. Oh my God, I don't have place to park this car. You prayed for it last 5

17:01 years. Why do I have to drive this bike? You were crying for it. I can't study these subjects. Didn't you fast and pray for this admission? God, I can't handle this man. Three other proposals came. You fasted and prayed and got him. Now, don't sit there like, "Oh, I know I made a mistake." No, you didn't. Attitude today after you receive that blessing may be a mistake. Be thankful for what God has given you. >> Amen. What about the other amens? Be thankful for what God has given to you. But unlike gold in our lives, absence of sin alone does not make us holy. Purification for gold is just oxidizing the dirt. I was studying about purification of gold to understand the scripture and I figured out today you have so many different ways of purifying gold. But

18:04 even today at some point fire is required. There is just no way with the latest of technology that gold could be purified without some element of fire. At different stages in different processes, they use fire. God says when you go through the fire of the burden of blessings or of the burden of failure, don't worry. In either case, you're not alone. When you walk through the fire, I'll be with you. and the floods they won't drown you for I will be with you. Gold gets purified only through fire. But you and I are not just purified through being allowed to go through fire. We're also purified by the addition of righteousness. Gold gets purified by the removal of dirt. You and I don't just get purified by the removal of dirt. We get purified even by the addition of the righteousness of God. by the works of righteousness, not just by the removal

19:06 of unrighteousness. It's not enough to keep thinking about what I shouldn't do. We must start thinking about what we should do in order to grow in the grace of God. One guy who understood endurance is a fellow called David. Oh man, last Sunday I spoke about him and you forgot. No, you didn't. Today I want to say something great about him. It's not just a makeup about last Sunday. But you know, you can't just take one thing about one man and think that's the whole life. No, there's so much about this man called David. He was the sweet psalmist of Israel. This guy was called by God at a young age. Got anointed by the prophet Samuel under precarious conditions. Gets into the palace. Now becomes a worship leader when he just has to play the music and demons run away. Talk about anointing. This fellow's music throws out demons. Pentecostal pastors got to pull the hair cause a whirlwind with the head.

20:13 And after hours of who are you? I won't tell. Who are you? I won't tell kind of conversations, David just picked up the harp and played a song. Baby, every devil ran out of town. Hallelujah. >> Amen. Devil leaving King Saul was a miracle because demons leaving normal people is okay but demons leaving anointed leaders is very difficult. Elected leaders when they get possessed it's very dangerous. I'm not talking about anyone in particular except King Saul. But this applies to all who act possessed. I'm not hinting at anybody. I don't preach against anybody. I don't waste my time preaching against anybody. I'm preaching for each one of you who are watching. And if someone sent you the clip saying, "Oh, Pastor Johnson spoke about you and

21:15 you're watching." It's about you also. About listen to the whole thing. It's about anybody who falls in the category of allowing demonic influence because you disrespected divine influence. >> And David would pick up the harp and worship and all of a sudden every demon would leave. >> Oh man, that fellow was anointed. When you know to play the guitar, there's some lady who likes to see you. Vice versa. This fellow was hated by King Saul because the ladies sang his praises. That's what caught King Saul's attention. And King Saul started chasing him and he had to run in caves and mountain creeks, hiding in the most isolated places. You know, sometimes you wonder, God, why did you anoint me? If

22:18 you didn't anoint me, I would have had a decent life because of your anointing. Because I've come out to serve you. Because I love you. Look at where I am. You know, sometimes you go through a healthy start and you go through a healthy finish. But in between, the only companion you have is called endurance. This guy goes through this all alone. And guess who are the friends he gets? Fellows who don't know anything in life. Fellows who took money can't repay ran away. Fellows who accidentally committed some crime and ran away. Fellows who you know eloped with somebody else's woman or somebody else's daughter. All crazy characters came to him. Now who is David? David does not become the veren of the community. Okay, that's that's a name of a bandit proclaimed a bandit. I have no personal enemity with him. I mean I have nothing against him or I don't know I can't think of another name or the Naros of Mexico

23:21 or from wherever that guy is. David could have become that because he's surrounded by such people who smoke weed and opium. But guess what they become? They all become worshippers. You know what? When you're a man of endurance, a woman of endurance, you don't become like them. They become like you. Hallelujah. And all these 400 people who gathered around him became excellent stonethrowers because that's one thing David knows. He knows how to swap down any Goliath with a stone and a sling and all became excellent stonethrowers. Now there is a bad time in David's life. He's fed up of running. Everyone goes through fatigue, don't we? We go through a time where we don't know what we're doing because we're tired. Really tired. And that's the time David goes to a enemy king Akish and says, "I'll support you. Just just just help me."

24:24 He's in ziglag. It's one of the sad stories of David. He's in loneliness. He goes to the king and says, "King Saul is against me. Can you support me? I I just need some political affiliation." And King Akish says, "My guys, you know, the NIA, the the intelligence, FBI, they've given me reports. You're the dangerous guy, okay? So, we can't have you here. So, sorry." By the time, now all these things took 2 three days. By the time David comes back to Zigglac, which is far away from King Saul, his wife is gone, wives are gone, children are gone, and his people's wives are gone, children are gone. All taken as slaves by a Amalachite raiding company and they burn down everything that belonged to David and David's people. And when David sees this, David joined his people and cried loud. One of the things today's people need to learn

25:27 is to cry in the presence of God. >> You know, to do makeup sometimes, learn how to tear it down. This fellow cried. They cried. The Bible says they wept until they had no strength. They cried out emotionally. They cried out loud physically. And they wept before God. and all his 400 fellows decided, let's stone David to death. Now that is crazy. These fellows did no stone throwing. Who taught them stone throwing? David. Now they've decided to throw stones at the fellow who taught them stone throwing. You know, when people turn against you and use the same blessings God gave them through your life and turn it against you, it's another level of loneliness. You're the one through whom God empowered them. You're the one through whom they became successful. And now they are using that success that they got through you against you to bring you down for no fault of yours simply

26:30 because they misunderstood you. They decided to stone him to death. I love this scripture. Let's read 1 Samuel and chapter 30:6. And was David greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him. Each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David, somebody shout, "But David, >> he found strength." That's the key to endurance. Find your strength. Not in the people around you. Not in the Facebook likes, not in the YouTube or your Instagram followers, not in the number of people who shake hands and smile. But learn to find your strength in the Lord your God. Even when you're in the island of loneliness, everything surrounding you are enemies. King Saul wants to kill you. King Akish says, "I can't help you. Amalachites burned everything down. and the only people around you have decided to stone you to death. David in the middle of all

27:34 this bunkom goes to God and says, "Ah, God, what's your plan for my life? I'm ready to move on." That's called endurance. I feel like preaching it. That's called endurance. Somebody this morning got to pray for endurance more than prophecy and speaking in tongues. You got to pray for endurance. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Your endurance is going to take you a long way. Where the devil thought he will tear you down, God says, "No, I'm pouring grace on you. I'm pouring strength on you. I'm pouring revival on you. You are going forward with endurance." Hallelujah. Hallelujah. You are going in endurance. Somebody asked Reard Bonke, "Why do you get excited when you preach?" Reinard Bonke said something so beautiful. Why do you get excited when a ball goes into the goal? Any fool can

28:38 kick a ball? Why do you get excited when someone sings? We get excited because of a living God who changes lives, who transforms people and is able to do much more exceedingly abundantly that what we ask or think. Give God a big hand. I tell you, church. Hallelujah. Amen. One of my biggest difficulties this morning is to refrain from saying personal stories because this church is filled with testimonies of people who endured. >> Hallelujah. Political influences, court cases, police atrocities, people turning against sicknesses, demonic powers, black magicians ganging up in circles around nature turning against. But because God is on your side, what can anyone do against you? Hold on to God. Find your strength in

29:44 Jesus. Find your strength in Jesus. Come on, somebody give a big hand clap to the Lord. Find your strength in Jesus. Find your strength in Jesus. Find your strength in Jesus. Find your strength in Jesus. Find your strength in Jesus. Hallelujah. Find your strength in Jesus. Not in your healing. Not in your miracle. Thank God for those things. Not in your balance of the bank account. Thank God for those things. It's good. But find your strength in Jesus. >> But how do you distinguish endurance from stubbornness? The other day someone asked me, "Do you get tired when you preach like that?" Mm- I was born in that. I get tired of talking normal. I grew up preaching in this Pentecostal

30:46 stuff. In Pentecostal stuff, in about 45 minutes, you burn around 800 calories. You know what I'm saying? I know that's a gym language, but And half the time you're fasting. So I like it. I like that tempo. I like moving at that anointing. But a lot of people get scared. They get confused. They don't understand because they come from very dignified backgrounds. So I have learned to talk in a little more boring way. What's the difference between endurance and stubbornness? Sometimes they are twin problems. Stubbornness, motivation comes from a sense of pride. Stubbornness comes from a sense of arrogance. It comes from a sense of sometimes from a sense of pain. But endurance

31:48 is driven by divine purpose. It doesn't come from pride or pain. It comes from purpose. Stubbornness is usually unteachable. But endurance is a spirit that is willing to learn and and it's willing to change. It's willing to grow. Stubbornness isolates you from good relationships. But endurance inspires trust and good unity. You can differentiate between endurance and stubbornness. It's not too hard. But one of the troubles endurance usually has is the problem of mood swings. How do you differentiate between moods and habits? Moods are things that change quickly and are fleeting, but habits are consistent in long-term and they're like the atmosphere around

32:50 you. I I I try to understand moods from four different perspective. Mood swings, how we feel. They're temporal because they're emotional states of being happy or angry or anxious because they're often caused by circumstances, sometimes by hormones and change in the body or thought patterns. Moods usually are harder to control at the moment. Moods are usually how how how you feel and respond in short term but ignoring your moods can have a huge influence on your habits. Habits are basically repeated patterns of moods. Habits are patterns which are long-term and triggered by routines, triggered by things that you do repeatedly. And and you can build habits

33:53 intentionally with change in practice. And you really can shape who you become by simply shaping habits of your life. habits in fact can stabilize your moods by a attitude of gratitude and allowing promises of God to become the foundation of your behavior. It's so important. One of the greatest enemies of endurance is laws of vision and passion. Distractions can really, really, really trouble you. One of my friends who's a pastor tells me one of the reasons I don't want to have a large church is I don't want trouble in life, small church, peaceful life. And he meant it. Sometimes the more God bless you, the greater success that you have in your company, in your education, in your career, you kind of begin to wonder, do I need all the baggage that comes with it? We start losing vision. We start

34:57 losing passion for what we're doing. Don't allow that distractions. Another enemy of endurance and you feel like slowing down and giving up is unwanted delay and losses and the enemies that you pick up because of jealousy and misunderstanding and the kind of trouble you sort of invite and it causes discouragement and you feel tired and and you want to give up between the start and the finish. The fear of failure, failing not just totally but failing to continue to succeed causes in inadequacy, causes a sense of loneliness. But you know a lot of scientific studies today show it doesn't matter what your IQ is more than your IQ. Your your success is predicated is pointed towards how you're able to endure through it all. The ability to just get up and show up is so very important.

36:00 Yeah. Yeah. It's so very important. That's why the Bible says, let's read Isaiah 40:31. But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. >> They will walk and not grow. >> You know what the Bible is saying? There are people who run and will be weary. There are people who will walk and will faint. But those who hope in the Lord, the word hope there is the word endure, those who endure in the Lord, those who wait on the Lord, those who believe in the Lord. In other words, that first line is actually Bethle people will rise up with wings like eagles. You will rise. You will rise. You will rise. Hallelujah. Because of that scripture, I was looking at some of the eagle behavior. Huh? You know, before I preach here, I kind of try to read everything up regarding whatever the Bible speaks. Eagles sometimes they wait for the wind. Crow, sparrow, parrot, pigeon are all

37:04 hoping this hopeless wind will stop so we can flap and have good times like before. And they are holding prayers. God, stop the wind. But some eagles are waiting for the wind. When their feathers feel the wind, there is a smile. There's a joy because now they're thinking of climbing 7 kilometers, 5 kilometers above the crow and the sparrow and they want to take an aerial view of the whole place. They're waiting for the wind. Sometimes your endurance becomes so strong you look at the devil and say, "Ah, you are send a bigger one. I'm tired of you." God who leads you. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. You know, the other day as I was studying the life of David, I've been reading that chap more than he knows about himself. And one of the things I found is that, you know, Goliath had four brothers. There are five brothers totally. Many of the devils that are attacking you today,

38:07 it looks like you defeated one and then another one. Same one. No, it's another one. Same family. These come in flocks. These are all packages. But don't worry, if you can defeat one, you can defeat the other cousin. I'm not talking about uh blood relatives. I'm talking about spiritual warfare. And when I was studying about David, when David became older, the Bible says one of David's young prodigies went out and killed a giant. And then there is an underline in bracket. He was the last brother of Goliath. When David killed Goliath, ladies made a hymn, a song out of it to a point that King Saul got demonp possessed. Ladies, be careful what you sing. Somebody gets demonic anointing. I was talking to the ladies at the time of David. This man when he killed the Goliath for

39:16 the next 3 to six months every studio talk was about no one could kill Goliath. David killed Goliath. Nationalism, patriotism, guy was ready to die. Everyone was talking about it. But when David prodigy, his great great followers killed Goliath's brother who was as big as Goliath. It's just one line in the Bible somewhere where no one notices. Why? Because doing great things became so common. You know, sometimes when you're a pioneer, small things become big. But God uses you at that level that people who follow you do it repeatedly and no one notices. Why? Because it's become a benchmark. It's become a lifestyle. You are walking into excellence in the name of Jesus. Hallelujah. I prophesy over you by the word of the living God. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their

40:18 strength. You will mount up not with wings of a sparrow or a chicken in the KFC. But with wings of eagle, you will fly up. No enemy can catch you because you have the spirit of endurance. Man, I feel it in my bones. Hallelujah. >> Endurance begins in the mind. Mind is the battlefield. Focus, discipline, your hope is all tested. It is built step by step. Endurance is not something a prophet can lay hands on you. Receive it. Well, you you can get that blessing and prayer, but endurance is something you build. It's something you build daily through focus, discipline, prayer, daily time of worship before God. Whenever the enemy wants when a lion wants to attack a sheep, lion doesn't

41:24 wait. Lion will jump on the whole flock. But there will be some sheep that will leave the flock. Lion will attack only that sheep. The first thing wild animals, lion, tiger, leopard, cheetah, hyenas, all carnivorous animals when they have to pounce on a water buffalo or a gazelle or they all go in flocks. These these herbivores, they go in flocks. But the carnivores they when they want to eat up another animal, first thing they do is they aim one and isolate it from the flock. There's nothing in the message. Nothing is so good. Leave that group. What is there? They are not caring for you. It's a big church. Whatever excuses they want to isolate you because once

42:25 they isolate you, they can attack you. Don't avoid your spiritual community. >> That's why the Bible says Hebrews chapter 12, let's read. Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfector of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured. See the word endured. Endured. Endured. Endured. Look at the word endured there. He endured. When you endure the cross, you look at shame and despise shame. and today seated at the right hand of God. Hallelujah. Endurance is more than human effort. It's rooted in faith that God's promises will happen. >> Amen. >> It's built on an eternal perspective. My life is not just for living in Bangalore. I'm being molded to live eternally with my God. There's a eternal perspective. Hallelujah. My life is not just here. My life is beyond the grave. And you learn to honor the presence of

43:29 God more than the promises of God. You learn to honor the presence of God. The presence of God that is with you, you learn to respect that more than the promises God gave you. Some of us are very good in handling the promises of God. But how do we treat the presence of God who is with us all the time? Do we value the promises of God more than the presence of God? That's not a good equation. My wife preached, Pastor Cynthia preached a great sermon some months ago on this topic. Honor the presence of God more than the promise of God. Close your eyes and say, "Father, I want to build endurance in my life through honoring your presence which is with me every day and finding my strength in your presence than in the promises." And I thank you for the promises. I thank you for the blessings. I thank you for the privileges. God, you

44:32 brought me thus far. You're able to lead me further. I count on you. I believe in you. I respect you. I honor you. I thank you for your hand on my life. But help me, Lord, to honor your presence more than depending on what I've heard, on what I've felt as your promise. Help me to trust your presence, which I sometimes don't feel, which I sometimes don't hear. Help me to trust that presence of yours than the promise which I'm reminded of. I thank you for your promises but truly your presence. Oh, I want to worship your presence like Shadraat, Mishak and Abendo who went through the fire and delivered through the fire.

45:35 Help us, Lord, that if you don't deliver us by avoiding the fire, we'll trust you to come out better through the fire. Your choices are always better. We love you today. Thank you for putting spiritual fiber in the muscles of righteousness. Thank you. You've called us to be purified like gold is but better than gold. Hallelujah. Heavenly Father, today as your servant, I speak your blessings on your people that the spirit of endurance between the start and the finish, the ability to hold on to you in discipline, in focus, in prayer, in worship, that we'll not give up like David found his strength in you. Help us to find our strength in you. Thank you for you are

46:38 with us. Thank you that today you spoke to our hearts with absolute clarity. Thank you that we are going to take more time from now to be thankful for where you have brought us thus far knowing that you are able to take us further. We acknowledge your presence that surrounds us in Jesus mighty name we pray. And the people said amen. There's a beautiful song I love. I'm sure you will enjoy this. It's basically the scripture we just read. Uh, they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. We'll sing that together. Teach me Lord my knees till your own. You answer my plea. Teach me not to rely on what others

47:40 do, but to wait a breath for an answer from me. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew. They shall now come with wings like the Eagle in the sky. Oh yes. They shall walk and not f. Teach me Lord. Teach me Lord to wait. Teach me Lord to wait. While my heart's all a flame. Help me humble my pride and call on your name. Keep my faith renewed and my eyes on me. Let me be on this

48:47 earth. What you want me to be. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like the eagle in the sky. They shall run. Amen. Thank you, Lord. >> Yes, Jesus. Teach me, Lord. Teach me, Lord. How many of you are going to believe this scripture is going to happen in your life? You will not only endure, you will not just come out as a survivor. You'll come out like a eagle flapping, soaring, scaling the heights. You believe that, pastor? I don't know if I can do it. It's okay. The scripture says if you

49:51 hope on the Lord, he'll make you. He'll do it. You trust him. We're going to sing that song with a lot more of faith and confess it as a reality that's going to happen in our life. Let's sing it for the last time. Teach me Lord to wait down on my knees till in your own good time. You answer my plea. Teach me not to rely on what others do, but to wait for answer from you. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall now come with wings like the eagle in the sky. They shall run and knock me and all.

50:59 Teach me Lord to wait. Teach me Lord to win while my heart's all a flame. Help me humble my pride and call your name. Keep my faith renewed and my eyes on me. Let me be on this earth what you want. Lift your hands and tell it Lord. I want a soul like that eagle. Oh yes. They shall mount up with wings like the eagle in the sky. They shall run and not be buried. They shall walk and not f. Teach me Lord. Teach me Lord to way. Absolutely. Go ahead. Give the Lord all

52:10 your praise. All your worship, all your adoration. Hallelujah. The anointing of increase, the anointing of enlargement, the anointing of breakthrough, the anointing of endurance, the anointing of being growing and successful even in discomfort right now in the mighty name of Jesus. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Heavenly Father, we just want to thank you, Lord, for the word that came alive this morning. We thank you, Lord, that our eyes are fixed on you alone, the author and finisher of our faith, and you are the one that strengthens us in our journey, that you are with us, that you will never leave us nor forsake us. Father, we thank you for your word once

53:14 again. Lord, at this time, we especially pray for those who are celebrating their birthdays and marriage anniversaries this week. Thank you Lord for adding it another year of your goodness, your faithfulness over their life that you will lead them in victory oh God. Father we pray for those who are traveling this week. Your journey mercies will go with them. We pray for those who have come to the church for the very first time. Their life will never be the same again. Your presence will continue to transform their life. Oh God. Father we pray for this week. We pray those who have lost their loved one. We pray that your grace be upon each one of them. that pain of beriement that your peace will comfort them and strengthen them. Father, we pray for the tithes and the offering that your blessing be upon every offering that your people are putting into your kingdom that you be alone the Jehovah Gyra in their life. The five loaves and two fishes will multiply in each one of their hands, oh God, and the favor of God rest upon each one of us as we go from here. That your presence will continue to minister, oh God, in each one of our life. We give you thanks. We

54:16 give you praise in Jesus most holy name we pray. Now may the grace of Lord Jesus Christ, the love of the heavenly father and the sweet abiding presence of the Holy Spirit rest and abide upon each one of us from now and forever more. And the people of God say amen. >> Amen. We want to take a minute to welcome all those who here for the very first time. Thank you for joining us. As you walk out, please do walk into the guest launch. There's a team waiting to meet with you and talk to you. Hey, there's a quick announcement. All the teenagers, watch out. October 2nd is your day. Be here. There's a beautiful program that is happening called as revive. If you want to register, go online and register for that. And all those who require prayers, the pastors are here in the front as well as in the overflow. Have a wonderful balance of the day and a blessed week ahead. God bless you. Thank you. Bye-bye. Take care. Heat. Heat.

56:11 Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.