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Amen so keep your place there in Romans chapter 5. That's we're going to be looking on this evening I'm going to preach through three verses this evening in Romans chapter 5 And I'm going to do something giving you since it's our our two-year anniversary here at holdfast Baptist Church I was doing some just some reflections over what I would preach tonight and These three verses came to mind and I really like these three verses if you're a church member here You know, I really like these three verses I'm going to spend most of the time on the first one but look down at Romans chapter 5 and look at verse number 3. Let's read through the three verses And let's just take a look at this for a minute. Look at the Bible says in Romans chapter 5 3 It says not only so but we glory in tribulations also So the first two verses we're talking about how we're saved were justified by faith You know, we're not saved by anything that we do or justified by faith trusting only Jesus Christ alone. We're saved. We're saved forever Nothing that we do can get us saved or keep us saved the Bible is now saying but not only that Not only we justified through Jesus through faith in him But it says we glory in tribulations also in verse number three knowing that tribulation worketh patience, I'm going to read the next two verses and Patience experience and experience hope and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts By the Holy Ghost which is given Unto us. I'm going to spend most of my time this evening looking at the very the third verse that I read first here Where it says we glory in tribulations also knowing that tribulation worketh Patience and we're going to look at this word patience in the Bible and look at you know, what is required for Patience now the thing you need to understand about this word patience in the Bible when the Bible is using the word patience here It's not talking about the you know, when we think of the word patience, you know today We think of waiting in line at six flags or you know watching a bobber at the lake or something like that, right? That's not what this word means in verse number three of Romans verse number four of Romans what patience here means is talking about the ability the ability to endure Tribulation is what this is talking about this word in Romans chapter 5 In John chapter 16 you say what is what is tribulation? What is tribulation John 16? Jesus says he says in the world you shall have tribulation. So tribulation is something that we get from the world Tribulation is trouble that comes to us Through the world around us through the people, you know when we talk about the world and Jesus says but you know I have overcome the world in John 16 So he's talking about trouble that's coming to the Christian from the world from people in the world It's it's the ability this patience and in Mark chapter 13 You know talking about Mark chapter 13 is a parallel passage to Matthew chapter 24 where Matthew 24 talks about great Tribulation in Mark chapter 13 a parallel passage. It calls that tribulation affliction So this is what tribulation is tribulation is trouble from the world or affliction from the world meaning people that are Doing things to you. They're afflicting you. It's not God giving you tribulation It is the world giving you tribulation and Jesus is just trying to prepare us for that And that's what the Bible is trying to do in Romans chapter 5. So tonight We're gonna look at this patience what this means we're gonna look at this patience that comes from the sin of man This tribulation that comes from the sin of man and patience this word that says how we can deal with This how we could glory in it You know the ability to deal with the sin of man on top of us. It's look Tribulation is difficulty in your life due to persecution. That's what tribulation is and Patience is the ability to handle that So tonight I want to give you three character traits These are all going to be character traits that you have or you don't have and if you don't have them You should work on getting them, but I'm going to give you three specific character traits that are prerequisites to patience That you will need look if you want to have patience to start this process That the Bible is talking about in Romans chapter 5 3 4 & 5 And you don't have patience you won't get to experience and you won't get to hope So I want to give you three things three character traits that you need to have in context of our two years here at Holdfast Baptist Church, and we get a little personal with you tonight, but you know that's I Guess that's my perspective. I can do that I'm gonna give you I'll get a little personal with you tonight give you three things that I've really learned That that are character traits to having Patience prerequisites, and I'm going to use reflections of the last two years since it's our anniversary This weekend the first one is this turn to Proverbs chapter 17 turn to Proverbs chapter 17 Get it patience the ability to endure tribulation the ability to go through Affliction in our lives from the world and we're looking at three things That we need as Christians to be able to have that patience all right the first one is this look at Proverbs chapter 17 The first one is this I'll just tell you what the first one is the first one is loyalty The first one is loyalty now. I have always felt this way. I have always felt Very strongly even before I was saved about loyalty I've always felt that it was very important for a person to be loyal But the Bible backs this up look at Proverbs 17 in verse number 17 You know I always thought when I was younger I mean before I was even saved when I was younger And you know I had friends and you find yourself in a in a tight spot And if I had a friend where I found myself in a tight spot and that friend You know did not help out and did not you know was not loyal to me and my friends in that case look that person wasn't my friend anymore, that's how Serious I took loyalty in my life Of course we're talking about godly loyalty. We're not talking about loyal You know being loyal to friends that sin and things like that, but we're talking about just having the character trait of loyalty look at Proverbs 17 in verse number 17 the Bible says a friend loveth at all times and A brother is born for adversity now look at Proverbs 18 24, so the Bible says there I'm just going to take the first part of that verse where it says a friend loveth at all times Look at verse number 24 of Proverbs 18 The Bible says in Proverbs 18 24 a man that have friends must show himself friendly that makes sense If you're not friendly you're not going to have friends look at the last part of this verse It says when there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother So the Bible here is saying if you put these two verses together as far as the loyalty of a friend the Bible is saying That friends stick close all the time Friends stick close to you now turn to James chapter 2 The last two years in ministry has really taught me that loyalty is vital to this Christian life It is an absolute Requirement for patience for the ability to be able to endure Tribulations in your life now Matthew 26. I'm just going to read it for you of course We're talking about loyalty to God as well I mean loyalty to God is a given as a matter of fact in Matthew 25th You're going to James chapter 2 Matthew 26 35 the disciples They pledged loyalty to Jesus where Peter says Peter said on him though I should die with thee yet will I not deny thee like also likewise also said all the disciples of course then Peter denied Jesus three times, but loyalty to God is super important In our lives, but the Bible also teaches That loyalty to your brothers and sisters is also important Actually turn to Jeremiah chapter 9. I think I messed you up a little bit there turn to Jeremiah You're gonna keep your place in James chapter 2, but turn to Jeremiah chapter 9 I'll prove it to you right here Jeremiah chapter 9 Jeremiah this poor prophet of Judah that no one ever listened to no one ever You know agreed with anything He said he was just afflicted his entire life by what by the world by the nation of Judah Everything that he preached was the Word of God and people just treated him badly for it They threw him in prison for it. They tried to kill him for it You know he was nobody listened to him one time even though he was right on everything look at Jeremiah chapter 9 and look at verse number 2 we're talking about loyalty to our our Brothers and sisters our friends look at verse number 2 of Jeremiah chapter 9 The Bible says oh that I had in the wilderness. Oh, this is Jeremiah speaking Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of where wayfaring men That I might leave my people and go from them He's talking about what's a wayfaring men are traveling men He's like though there would be some place in the wilderness that would take me that I could go and hide That I could go and stay in this place and Lodge Why why does he want to run off and hide in some cabin in the wilderness look at look at the rest of the verse? He says and I might leave my people and go from them Why he says for they all be all adulterers an assembly of treacherous men? Look the opposite of loyalty is treachery Is what the Bible is saying here is there's just people that were just treachery They're just causing all kinds of treachery to Jeremiah He wanted to run off and hide in a cabin, and it's compared to adultery, but doesn't that make sense Doesn't that make sense look turn back to James chapter 2 And let's just get a little bit more context about this the opposite of see because what people will do in their life is they? will spiritualize treachery There will be a treacherous person that can't be loyal to anyone and they will Spiritualize it by just saying oh, I'm just being loyal to God and not men When they're just spiritualizing just wicked treachery look at James chapter 2 in verse number 15 We're talking about loyalty the Bible says this it says if a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food One of you say unto them depart in peace Be warmed and filled Notwithstanding you give them not those things Which are needful to the body what does it profit? See the Bible here is saying if there's somebody that needs somebody if there's a friend that's coming to you it needs Something and and you just say hey, I hope that all works out for you And you do nothing to help them like you're not profitable to that person That's the whole point of James chapter 2 is the whole point of James chapter 2 is just you know that your your faith is Not profitable to anybody if it doesn't have anything that you're actually if it's just talk If you just keep that belief and that salvation to yourself, and there's no works that come out of it Yeah, you're saved, but it doesn't help anybody else. It doesn't profit anybody else so see folks a man The the Bible is basically saying and I'm trying to tell you here that if a man has no loyalty What good is he is a man? Think about Jeremiah chapter 9 of verse number 2 what good is a husband that has no loyalty to his wife You say oh, no loyalty to God of course loyalty to God, but a man that is not what's his wife What good is that man? What good is the man that does not have the character trait of loyalty What is it profit? Who does he profit talk literally means nothing? That's what the Bible is saying here Now you're all thinking you're saying is this a sermon on how? You need to be loyal to your pastor and loyal to your church and all these things no because I'm going to give you The answer to this and I'm going to give you the context of what I'm talking about tonight Talking about my loyalty Talking about how important it is that I have found in the ministry that I have the character trait of loyalty What the pastor I'm talking about from my perspective? tonight everybody should have this character trait of Loyalty in their Christian life, especially the pastor I Mean the last couple years God has really driven this home for me And you know I think kind of like you know like I said you know my personal thoughts on it I kind of try to reflect on things happen I look back on things and personally I think that part of it was was God was saying hey you preach this all the time Let's see it, buddy That's where I believe a lot of it came from for me, and that's what I took away from a lot of it you see Let me just give you an example there were times in the last two years Especially especially the first year of This church where being a pastor was not a joyful experience being A pastor was it was it was not fun for me or my family for that matter I Mean I'm going to be getting a little too personal with you tonight, but I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm just gonna be straight with you. There's times when thoughts Creep into your head. I'm not saying these thoughts are good I don't give in to these thoughts at those times But when being a pastor is not fun when being a pastor is not joyful at the time There's thoughts that creep in that say why are you doing this? There's thoughts that creep in that say you don't need this Look I know where those thoughts come from Why would you do this to your family? Why would you put yourself through this? But you know it always came down to this for me loyalty to God and loyalty to people That's what it came down to for me you see It's about of course. It's about loyalty to God, but you can serve God. You don't have to be a pastor folks to serve God You know, but what it came down in the it came down to in those situations for me was loyalty to these people It was loyalty look because these people need a pastor These People need a church The people in Sacramento need a church, and if they didn't have a loyal man up there, they wouldn't have one the people in LA Need a church the people in West Virginia need a church the people in Phoenix need a church Tempe need a church everywhere needs a church. You know what there's not a lot of people that have a church like this and Without that well. Do you know what these kids these kids need a church? These kids need a Pastor they need a place that they can come that has a shelter from the wolves and without a loyal That's what kept me going it didn't matter that it wasn't fun, and it wasn't joyful It's it these parents These parents need edification These parents need instruction these parents need reinforcement There is a folks. There is a world out there trying to kill your family You say that sounds pretty serious like kill my family is that like a real thing Hey when they're trying to teach your boy that he's a girl. That's the death of your family You better understand you better understand that you're in a war You don't go and lead your family and walk into a fight and not even know you're in a fight There is people out there that want to abuse Confuse Without a loyal leader None of it is possible You Know what it's about you know it was about when things weren't joyful for me It was about the family with a child in the hospital They need a pastor No matter how those things turn out those people need a pastor You know it was about it was about It was about people going through treatment of a serious disease Is That about how joyful things are But that's how important look you say oh, this is gonna be a sermon on wealthy every Christian needs the character trait of loyalty even the pastor Loyalty is a must or you will fail in the Christian life A Man that's not loyal that has does not have this character trait of of of loyalty is a worthless, man. I Know pastors that have gotten themselves physically ill from stress and pressure Put upon them, but you know what those are loyal men Those are loyal men and those people that they lead are blessed by those loyal men It it's not about Joy and just being happy all the time Loyalty is a must for patience, or you will fail you will not be patient You will not make it through if you are not a loyal person turn to 2nd Timothy chapter 2 Turn to 2nd Timothy chapter 2 we're looking at three things tonight That are prerequisites that are necessary to have patience What is patience patience is the ability to make it through? tribulation affliction Look at 2nd Timothy chapter 2 2nd Timothy chapter 2 we're gonna character traits the first one is you should be a loyal person look you should be loyal to God first always You should not I'm not talking about having a buddy that no matter what he does gets into sin You're well to him no, man not what I'm talking about talking about as the Bible says you're a loyal person and Loyalty is super important in this Christian life, or you will not have patience look at 2nd Timothy chapter 2 look down at verse number 3 The second trait is this the second character trait is this it the ability to endure hardness? Look at verse number 3 of 2nd Timothy chapter 2 the Bible says therefore thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ you know what that is saying it's saying like the literal ability To go through hardness with hardness like hard things things that are hard things that are not easy To go through the ability to do that turn to Galatians chapter 6 Galatians chapter 6 look at verse number 9 It's saying the ability to just have painful stressful difficult things Happen to you go through those things and not stop look at Galatians chapter 6 We get a little bit more context on this it says in verse number 9. Let us not be weary in well-doing For in due season we shall reach if we what? faint not So the first the first one is loyalty the second one is the ability to endure hardness with what without stopping without fainting The Bible is saying you need to be able to get through Hard things without you know look the Bible doesn't say you're never gonna feel bad The Bible doesn't say you're never gonna be down. You're never gonna be depressed. You're never gonna be you know stressed out It's just see saying when you get weary from those things you should not faint You should not stop you should be able to endure that that's a character trait You say I don't know I'm not very good at that You know I have an analogy for this and it may seem like a silly analogy, but I really feel like it fits I Go out fishing a lot, and I've taken a lot of people fishing with me You really get to learn a lot about people when you're out in the middle of the ocean Fishing I've learned that there's two types of sick that people get You know I mean people get sick and look you can't control getting sick It's just something that your your brain does to your stomach and in your toast But there's two types of people out there there's there's the first type of person that they get they get sick and they lie on the bottom of the boat and They're done And then there's a type of person where they get sick and and they just they keep going though They're sick. I mean they're sick, but they keep going Brother Alex, I asked if I could kind of tell a little story about him Brother Alex, I think was the first time you've ever been fishing he came out and he got sick And I wasn't really even aware of how sick he was But brother Alex were out fishing and he's not feeling great and he hooked into the biggest to this day lingcod that I have ever seen in my life and Just a little bit about myself here I Am not the best person to be standing next to you when the big buck walks out of the woods When the big fish comes up, there's a saying that we have when we're fishing Is when you can see color and that's when when you're pulling the fish up, and it's the first It's the first glisten of the fish in the water, and he was pulling this fish in and we knew it was something I had the gaff ready, and I was ready to go we knew it was something significant And then I saw the first color the glistening of this fish, and I mean you know I freaked out a little bit and I turn I look at Alex and he's I'm not He is he is he is vomiting at the time and I I just Like I said, I'm not the best person to be standing next to you in times like this But I basically told him this was a big fish And he was reeling this thing in and he was just his eyes were kind of rolling back in his head And I just look you need to be a man now You need to continue And I mean it was probably about that about that volume And I was just I was hard at you know what he did I I just told you you need now's the time in your life where you need to suck it up And he did He is literally throwing up while he's reeling in this fish And I don't care I'm just like we'll clean up the mess later just keep going Any real and this is the picture that I show people when people are like are you guys catch fish out there? It's the picture it's the picture that the commercial and at the dock we're holding this thing up, and they're like But he kept going But you know what this is also the same, but see it's a character trait It's not like he just wanted to fish It's a character trait that he had because this is a guy that just beat cancer That just went through a battle of his young life and Then he went fishing see the character trait was already there the ability to endure Hardness it is a super important character trait that the Bible is calling out, and we need it in our Christian life Like I don't know. I'm weak. He's strong You need to get stronger in this Christian life faint not you know what? It doesn't say that you're not gonna get sick People get sick you can't control yourself out there. You just get sick It's some people stop and some people don't that's the difference That's the Bible The Bible says we're not this is not Joel Osteen's church as pastor He meant as I was saying this morning the Bible does not say that you're never gonna have Hardship in your life that you're never gonna have pain in your life You're never gonna have suffering in your life as a matter of fact Jesus told it I tell you these things so you may not be offended These things are gonna happen You have financial hard times. You're gonna have hard times in your family Going to happen the key is fainting not Some people will faint and some people won't But guess what if you look back at Galatians chapter 6 and verse number 9 if you faint not What does it say? It says if we faint not in Due season we will reap And let me tell you something we are reaping here In in year two of hold fast Baptist Church look this second year was our due season I Didn't even preach an anniversary sermon the first anniversary It was more just like Let's get through this thing But we're reaping now We never had more baptisms Never had more growth we've got new families you know what I like You know what I like we got the most new soul winners that we've ever had Now marriages You know what my favorite thing is though new Christian growth That's my favorite thing seeing new Christians grow in their faith Seeing people discover what the Bible actually says and grow it's my favorite thing as a pastor That gives me joy He says there no joy. No there's a lot of joy as a pastor I didn't mean to be all depressing in the first few minutes But the point I'm trying to get you understand is we are reaping now, but it did not come for free It did not come without trials It did not come without Difficulty you know and look I know I know that people got weary Look nobody Whenever you feel like man, there's just a lot of drama. I'm getting weary from this time Nobody hates the drama more than your pastor in a church but if we endure These things we will reap and we're reaping and it's exciting But it didn't come without trials see It's like the feeling you get after you run a long distance You run a long distance, and then you're done And you just feel so good like it can only be possible if the long distance was run To feel that good. I mean it's I was talking with many of the young men I mean I I was talking with the young men and in a couple dads for the last week or so lots of different people in town and I noticed I Noticed kind of an application to this you know it's really exciting for me to see the paths that young men are finding That are just they're separate from the go to college good 120,000 in debt and work at McDonald's you know it's so nice to see homeschoolers Christians Bible believing saved people Throw in the status quo off and find in successful successful ways But you know one thing That I realized was common, and I even said this to brother Andrew when you're out soloing yesterday You know he was talking about you know path that he's on and I talked to a couple other young men the days before about paths that they're on and the thing that you need to understand is really what it comes down to is If you want to be successful as a young man This is kind of a side mini sermon you want to be successful as a young man All you need to do is really two things you need to find something that is hard and Something that takes you years and years and years and years to learn And you need to get on that path and what you need to not faint off that path Just like the Bible is teaching us, and then you know what? You're gonna be okay. You're gonna make it You're gonna make a living You know you're gonna go and you're gonna you're gonna get something where you learn learned years and years and years a Kid's dad was telling me He's like you know he needs to he needs to learn that to think on his feet and use his hands And and then we'll take him up a notch to this up a knot to this machine and up a notch to this That's how you do it, and you know what that doesn't happen in in two months That doesn't happen working at McDonald's that you can teach someone how to do in a week it's years and years and years and years of Hardness hard things And then you're gonna be fine. You like but it's hard. Yeah, it has to be hard. Why because if it's if it's not hard Then if there's no valley. There's no peak It's supposed to be hard This is why this is why drugs and alcohol is so destructive because what are people trying to do with drugs and alcohol They're trying to get the peak without the valley I'm trying to get the joy without the work They're trying to just get that feeling for free Nothing is free They may enjoy as pastor said this morning. They may enjoy the pleasure of sin for a season But really what they will do is destroy Will destroy themselves, and they'll destroy. They're not an island everyone around them Because they're trying to get it for free. They want the feeling without the run The Peaks without the valleys it doesn't work that way we must endure the valleys to have true godly joy at the peaks So no, you know what this means we should appreciate the valleys You notice how in Romans chapter 5 verse number 3 that we read that first verse it said we glory in tribulations They're happy They're happy in those tribulations. We need to appreciate the bad times. You're like you're crazy Appreciate the bad times when you get out of the bad times and everything is good never forget the weariness that you felt number one it'll make you appreciate the situation you're in I Mean I appreciate the hard times that I've gone through in my life. I mean those are gems that I carry around with me Because they make me thankful for the good times, and that's what God says we should be thankful in everything And while you're weary you also know while you're in those weary times you also know that it will only be for a time The problem again the problem is people quit in the weariness they lay down on the trail They stop reeling and throw the fishing pole in the water or What's even worse is maybe they never get on the trail in the first place for even fear of weariness But guess what they're gonna miss all the peaks Turn to Psalm 37 Psalm chapter 37 So number one we see that loyalty Godly loyalty is super important in the Christian life for patience number two You must have the ability to endure Hardness hard things do hard things Endure hard things without fainting without Stopping in your Christian life that is a prerequisite those two things for patience What is patience the ability to handle tribulation? Look at Psalm chapter 37. I love this one. This is the verse of the week on the front of your bulletin Apple says this it says Psalm chapter 37 look at verse number seven the third point the third character traits That you need to have to have patience to endure tribulation or affliction in your life if you need to have the ability to rest in the Lord You say What do you what do you mean by that look at verse number seven where the Bible says notice how this verse? There's a certain word in here that we're talking about tonight Look at verse number seven where it says rest in the Lord and patiently wait for him That is such a beautiful verse right there the Bible here is saying that patience Goes with resting in the Lord. What does that mean notice how it says? It doesn't say on the Lord. It says in the Lord You know You know there's certain constants in this Christian life You know there's certain constants that it doesn't matter where you are in this Christian life It doesn't matter if you're at a peak if you're at a valley if you're you know going up a hill going down a hill It doesn't matter because the Bible says that there's certain constants in your Christian life the Bible is very clear about that What is the constants of your Christian or your spiritual life well church? As a matter of fact in Rome and in Hebrews 10 25 it says you know not forsake the assembling of ourselves together So much the more When you see the day approaching it's talking about you know when things get bad when we start getting into the end times Into when it's good. What's gonna happen tribulation then it's more important to be in a good church These are constants You should be reading your Bible. You should be studying your Bible. You should be in the Bible daily whether you're good times or bad times You Should have a prayer life whether you're going through good times or bad times You should be teaching your children the Bible And you know Deuteronomy 6 in the morning in the evening when you wake up and when you lies down These are constants These are things that you don't have to just measure How things are going for you the Bible is saying you should no matter what is going on. You should be doing these things I Mean the Christian life is simple it may not be the easiest thing at times, but it is simple I mean these are constants that always no matter what difficulty you're going through these things are constant, but you know what it's tough for people It's tough for people to keep that spiritual life going when difficult times come as a matter of fact I mean just Somebody's going through tough financial times, and they're just like I just need to I just can't go to church anymore I just need to I need to work more now I just need to do that and and then I'll get over this, but people they give up the spiritual stuff Like the first thing is the spiritual stuff goes But the Bible says rest in the Lord This is a person who's saying you know whose whose life is what people will do is like people's life is just falling apart I mean the the world is falling apart around them and They've completely they're going through something hard. They they're they're doing nothing that they should be doing and They're just like I'm just waiting on the Lord I'm just waiting on the Lord. No you're supposed to rest in the Lord and Wait patiently you're supposed to be in the Lord I mean these are people that don't know the difference between God's chastisement and Tribulation like God's chastising them because they're not in the Lord. They're like. I'm just waiting on the word I'm like no you're being chastised because you're not in the Lord But at least if you're in the Lord You won't have to decide you won't be confused. You won't be confusing chastisement with tribulation This is rest in the Lord. You won't be able to make that mistake Be patient rest in the Lord Turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 7 Ecclesiastes chapter 7 So the three character traits that we talked about so far are loyalty For patience for the ability you know you can't be a patient person according to what the Bible defines as Patience if you're not loyal You can't be a patient person if you can endure hardness Without fainting and you can't be a patient person if you don't Rest in the Lord if you don't stay in the Lord even through the difficult times in your life look at Ecclesiastes chapter 7 so in conclusion this evening. I just want to show you the importance of patience This is a great verse in Ecclesiastes But I want to show you a word that pops up in this verse look at verse number 8 of Ecclesiastes chapter 7 the Bible Is saying better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof the Bible is saying it's better So this is for all of you people that have you know maybe got saved later in life And you're just looking back, and you're like. I can't believe I used to go to that church I can't believe I used to do those things. I can't believe I used to have those friends. Hey forget it the ends better God doesn't even remember your sins Just move on and let's go. Let's put our hands to the plow and move forward together God doesn't even remember all that stuff back there And the end is better Ending is better. Nobody cares how you started a race if you win the race oh He jumped off the blocks, and he fell on his face and scraped up his nose He looked like a total goofball, but then he smoked everybody nobody cares how you started It's ending better, but then look at what the next part of the verse says it says the patient and spirit is Better than the proud and spirit. You know what that's saying. It's saying the patient will end well You're saying how do I end this Christian life well you be patient which means you need to be loyal you need to be able to endure hardness and You need to be able to rest in the Lord no matter What's going on in your life you will keep those spiritual constants going in your life? You know what if you can't keep your spiritual life going in the easy times. You will never make it through the hard times Think about this. I'm telling you for sure there's peaks and there's valleys coming in your Christian life And you're like you know what I can't I can't even do it when when things are going well you have no chance because you know what you do you know you get it you get that thing going you get that training down you get that muscle memory down and when the hard times come You just rinse and repeat you just do what you know you're supposed to do. That's it You're like. I don't feel like it. You shouldn't be ruled by your feelings I'm your emotions shouldn't rule you The end is the bet is the better thing that's why patience is so important go back to Romans chapter 5 now If you want to end well you need the patience You need the loyalty you need the ability to endure you need the ability to Keep your spiritual life going at any time And if you can't do in the easy times You will never make it through the hard times and the hard times are coming so what does that tell you? That tells you that some people's Christian lives not talking about their salvation But that tells you that some people's Christian lives their days are numbered Why because they can't even make it in the easy times? Or maybe they can make it through the easy times when things get tougher and tougher then they drop off This is why you see this is why you see people in it for a year two years three years And then they're done. This is why they can't endure hardness. They have no loyalty. They have no they have no what they have no patience To endure these things look at Romans chapter 5 Let's read verse number 4 now now that we have patience you're like I'm gonna get these character traits I'm gonna have patience look what the Bible says it says and patience experience and experience hope so if you get patience Along with patience comes these other two things the patience is the ability to go through it and not Stop and you're like what do I get from that? You know what I get experience? And I only tell you something let me give you another little personal note I Started out two years ago. I had zero experience as a pastor none And I knew that but you know what I got some experience now And it was important for me to have the patience to go through some of the things that we went through and I appreciate The experience that I have from that It's again those are gems in my pocket that experience and guess what comes from experience hope You say what do you do with the hope look at verse 5 this is what you do with the hope hope Hope maketh not ashamed You say what is what does that mean what pastor? He meant is he kind of brought it up a little bit this morning. Hope maketh not ashamed Well, you know where it you know you get that Patience the ability to go through it that gets you experience you get hope from that and pretty soon You don't care so much what people think anymore Pretty soon it doesn't bother you what the world thinks about What you believe how you? Raise your family what you know how you've kicked off the status quo that everybody else is stuck in it Just doesn't bother you why because you have that experience and from that came this hope that just makes you not ashamed You Know that a lot of people in this world a lot of Christians a lot of saved people Would be horrified Incredibly ashamed to walk down a street with a Bible in their hand I Don't know if many of you can if some of you can maybe remember when you had that feeling We're walking yeah, I'm gonna walk down a sidewalk in public with a Bible. Are you joking, but you know what hope make it not ashamed But you know you got to get through a little bit of tribulation first you get through some tribulation You got to have some people maybe persecute you a little bit. Maybe a lot You got to make it through that not faint not be weary and faint and fall over you just got to just kind of like Just keep walking You just got to get through it and then your experience and you know what the beauty of experience is is you know you can Do it again? You have that experience, and you're like yeah, that happens again. I mean I don't really want to do that again, but I know I can And that gives you hope and look it makes you not ashamed you just you just don't care What people think as long as we're in the Bible is like? It's easy to say that you shouldn't care You know about what people think about how you're raising your kids about you know what you believe on the gospel You shouldn't care about these things, but you know what I mean a lot of people they say those things, but they do care But you have to get to that point and the only way you get to that point is going through these valleys and not falling over So I appreciate everything about the experience of This church even when it wasn't joyful I mean, I kind of like was trying to like do that tongue-in-cheek at the beginning because like this isn't not it I never even went into the ministry to be joyful all the time That's just that's just I mean have you never read the Bible what in the world? You want to go to the ministry like you shouldn't be in love with joy? I'm trying to scare you off, but I mean look at the prophets I mean nobody loved the prophets and You know when they did listen to the one prophet. You know he was depressed and angry Jonah Let's continue in verse number five It says hope maketh not ashamed Because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts and by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us It's talking about you know the love of God is is shown to us in our hearts it's it's made known to us in our hearts and We care about what God thinks more than anybody else So look that is the beauty of this two-year anniversary To me when I read these three verses I mean you just look at you look at the reaping of just this weekend I think we ended up with 29 salvation is just in the last two days I mean you look at the the salvation that a church like this will get every week It's not just this weekend. We'll go out and and we were we're not ashamed here We'll go out and walk down the by down the street with our Bibles every single week multiple times a week here We will never stop ever Because we have the hope and we're not ashamed None of that could have happened without loyalty from you and from me Without the enduring goodness from me and from you Without You know the idea that we're gonna go through tough times We're gonna go through those tough times while remaining in Christ here Well continuing to do what we know the Lord Jesus Christ wants us to do It's not hard. It's tough today. Go to church. That's what I do You know what I can tell you this there were some really unjoyful times, but I never I never Didn't love walking through the doors of this church I just love it I Just love it I walk through the doors of the church with my daughter every Sunday morning And I just I just there's no feeling like it. I love it And I will always love it until I'm dead no matter what's going on Because I mean I rest in the Lord I rest in the Lord knowing that we're doing We're doing what we're supposed to do as Christians here on this earth with our stupid Short little lives Whether they last another five minutes or another 50 years We're doing what Jesus Christ wants us to do I? Mean is there anything better than that then knowing that You know that and you will sleep like a baby every single night No matter what you're going through you'll rest. I mean literally that's literal rest in the Lord right there It's when you're doing stuff that you know Jesus doesn't want you to do that's when we have a problem in this Christian life I Love this church. I love the people in this church. I love the people from all the different churches that are here Verity Baptist Church sure foundation First works Baptist Church all the different churches that we all go to all the time We are serving the Lord Jesus Christ with our life. I don't care what anybody thinks I don't care what we have to go through. I don't care. What kind of ridiculousness That happens we're just gonna keep doing the constants keep doing what Jesus Christ wants us to do and ultimately That's what it's all about Let's have some tacos. Let's bow our heads and have word of prayer