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Amen, all right. So throughout all these unprecedented times that we're in, I'm trying to think of the most relevant, relevant sermons and relevant lessons from the Bible that we can find in times like this. So this morning, of course we're in Job chapter one, it's quite a day for this man named Job in the Bible. He literally, in this story, he literally in one day lost all of his possessions and all of his family in one day. And it's quite a story and he, we're gonna learn a little bit about Job this morning. So what I wanna talk about, the subject I wanna talk about this morning is I wanna talk about the subject of perseverance and persevering in your life. And you say, you know, what is perseverance? The actual definition of the word perseverance is this, it's persistence in doing something despite difficulty. So that persistence in doing something despite difficulty. It means if you're someone that perseveres, that means that when things get difficult, you keep going and you don't stop and you keep going through whatever that is. You don't let things get in your way and stop you from doing things. Now there's many examples in the Bible, we just saw one, there's many examples in the Bible of perseverance and persistence through difficulty. If you look at Job, you know, he's maybe one of the best examples in the Bible. You look at Job chapter one, just look down at verse number 20. So you look at all these things that have happened to Job. You know, he's lost his children, he's lost his possessions. You know, the Bible says that Job, you know, he had a lot of earthly possessions, he had many children, and the Bible says that he lost them all. And in verse number 20, the most amazing part of Job chapter one is in verse number 20, the Bible says, and Job arose and rent his mantle and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground and worshiped and said, naked came I out of my mother's womb, naked shall I return thither, the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And in all this, Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. So the Bible says that through all this, Job just recognized that hey, you know, those things were just given to me by God, praise God that I had those things while I had them, the Lord gave me those things, it's up to the Lord if he takes them from me. I mean, now, look, for someone who has just lost his own children, that is an amazing testimony of faith right there, to not charge God foolishly. Because the Bible implies here that if Job would have, you know, been angry at the Lord for this, that that would have been foolish on his part, all right? Even in Job chapter two. Look, Job hasn't lost his wife yet. He hasn't lost his wife. And I don't say yet because he didn't lose his wife, but in Job chapter two, look at verse number seven of Job chapter two. So in Job chapter two, you know, God in Job chapter one says, all right, you can take away everything from Job, but don't touch him. Don't touch his health. Well, in Job chapter two, you know, Satan convinces God to allow him to touch, you know, Job's flesh and actually to make him sick, to give him boils all over his flesh. And in Job chapter two and verse number seven, the Bible says, so went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown. Meaning from, he had boils on his skin, from his feet to his head. And he took him, opposed her to scrape himself withal, and he sat down among the ashes. Then said his wife unto him, dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God and die. I mean, nice lady, right? I mean, look, I mean, just as a side note, you know, when you're going through, you know, part of the benefits of marriage is when you're going through, like, look, there will be times in your marriage where one of you is having a good time and the other is not. Where maybe someone, the wife is down or the husband is down. And look, I mean, in this lady's defense, she just lost her children too. But she's obviously not taking it in the same faithful stride that Job is, okay? So, you know, encourage each other in your marriage. All right, when one of you is down, pick up the other, whether it be husband or wife or whatever. But anyway, she's obviously not taking this whole situation with the same perseverance that Job was, okay? She was more, she got in the flesh, right? Look at verse number 10 and see how Job responds to her. But he said unto her, thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What, shall we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips. So he's basically, once again, saying, look, all the good that we had, I mean, it's just beautiful, all the good that we had was from the Lord. And he's just like, what did we just expect it to just be good all the time? I mean, so he rebukes his wife here. Then, of course, in the story, you know, Job's friends show up and, you know, it gets really interesting from there. But we're not gonna go any further into the story of Job, but I just wanna show you that Job is a great example of perseverance in the Bible. He never lost his faith and he kept going through it, even when his friends show up and just beat him down. And, you know, that's a good example in Job, by the way, of how to not be a friend of someone who's going through hard times, okay? Let's look at another example. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 11. Another great example of perseverance in the Bible, maybe the most complete example of perseverance in the Bible is the Apostle Paul. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 11 and look at verse number 23. And the Bible says this, it says, "'Are they ministers of Christ? "'I speak as a fool. "'I am more, in labors more abundant, "'in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, "'in deaths oft.'" Then he goes into all these other details of all the things that he has suffered for the cause of Christ. Okay, but basically he's saying he's worked harder, in labors more abundant, he's been beaten more, and he's been imprisoned more than anybody for the cause of Christ. Paul suffered terribly his whole life for the cause of Christ, you know, first by the Jews, and then eventually at the end of his life, because I believe, you know, it's not in the Bible, but I believe that Paul was beheaded by the Romans, by Nero, and, you know, secular history will say that. We don't know for sure, of course, because it's not in the Bible, but look, he led a very difficult life all the way to the end. There's no doubt about it, but he never stopped. Paul never stopped. Turn to 2 Timothy chapter four. Paul, look, especially for me, Paul is this rare example of somebody who gets saved later in life, and then from that point, completely finishes the race perfectly. Now that, I mean, that's a great example for somebody like me, for people who got saved, you know, later in life, but, you know, it's a good example for anybody. Paul finished the race. You know, he didn't come into this whole Christianity thing and say, you know what, and just go, you know, hammer down for two or three years, and then, you know, go on to the next thing. You know, you see a lot of people do that. You know, they're in it for six months or a year or whatever, and then they're done. That was not Paul. Paul's a perfect example of what we need to be as saved Christians. Look at 2 Timothy chapter four and verse number six, and this is another kind of, you know, biblical evidence that I think Paul was executed right here, just the way he worded this right here. He says, for I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. He went all the way to the end. He never stopped. It's a great example for us to persevere to the end through difficulty. I mean, that's the example, right? I mean, that's the definition of perseverance is persistence through difficulty. Paul's whole life was difficult. I mean, think about it. He had this great life as this high, you know, Pharisee, right, he was Pharisee of the Pharisees, the Bible says. He had everybody's respect. I'm sure he had plenty of money. I'm sure he had all this preeminence amongst everyone, and he goes into this thing where, you know, Jesus stops him on the road to Damascus, and he not only, you know, gets saved, but he just drives the gospel for his whole life at the expense of his body, of his health, of everything, and eventually his life, eventually his life. Now, look, that's the definition of perseverance right there, okay? Now, here's one that you may not have thought of before, and I'm gonna get some mileage out of this story in the Bible tonight, but turn to Luke chapter 18, because you're like, I've heard a Job before, and I've heard a Paul before. What else you got? Turn to Luke 18. I wanna really focus on this story in the Bible tonight, so we're gonna read this parable in the Bible. Let's read this parable. It's the parable of the widow and the unjust judge. Luke 18, and we're gonna start reading at verse number one. The Bible says, and he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray and not to faint, saying, there was in a city a judge which feared not God, neither regarded man. So this guy, this judge, he didn't care about God, he didn't care about people, he just, he didn't care. He didn't care about the people that were coming to him, and he didn't fear God, all right? And there was a widow in that city, and she came unto him, saying, avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while, but afterward he said within himself, though I fear not God, nor regard man, yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, hear what the unjust judge saith, and shall not God avenge his own elect, which cried day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, who were those, those were the Pharisees, and despised others, right? So look, this is very similar to Luke chapter 11, turn to Luke chapter 11. I'll give you the point of the parable here. In Luke chapter 11, look at verse number 11. I'm gonna give you the point of the parable, and then I'm gonna kind of apply it a little bit different. Okay, look at Luke chapter 11, verse number 11, where the Bible says, if a son ask bread of any of you that it is his father, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? So in Luke chapter 11, we see this idea comparing, you know, your Heavenly Father to you as a father to your child, right? He's saying, look, if you would give good gifts to your children, you know, how much more would your Heavenly Father give you gifts or answer your prayers? That's what the Bible is saying. And very similar in Luke chapter 18, the story of the unjust judge, God is using that, Jesus is using that to explain that, look, this guy was unjust. He didn't fear God, he didn't fear man, he didn't care about man, anything, but he answered this widow. He gave this widow what she wanted. If this unjust judge would give this widow, would avenge this widow, how much more do you think God will avenge you, is what the Bible is saying, what Jesus was trying to say, right? Turn to Hebrews chapter 12. Because he's comparing the unjust judge to God, the perfect judge. Just like he's comparing in Luke 11, you know, you as a father to God as the perfect father, right? It's the same type of application. Hebrews chapter 12, look at verse 23. Let's look at what the Bible says about God being a judge. In verse number 23 of Hebrews chapter 12, the Bible says, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect. So look, God is the judge, he's the judge. So that's what Jesus is talking about, he's comparing this unjust judge to God, saying, look, if this guy would avenge this lady, your heavenly father will avenge you, all right? So now, let's look at some application. So you say, you know, really, like a sermon on perseverance? I mean, really? I mean, you think, tell me something I don't know. I mean, that's what you all are thinking right now. I can see it in your eyes, right? But look, let me ask you this. If it's so Christianity 101, to preach a sermon on perseverance, let me ask you this, why doesn't anyone do it? Because I don't see it happening. So, turn to James chapter one. Before I make application on this tonight, turn to James chapter one. Let me just yell at you about a couple things here. All right? Because look, I mean, I get up here, and I mean, I write these sermons, and I preach these sermons, and look, I love doing it. I love seeing you all every week, and I love doing this, and it's great. But look, I mean, I don't really want to waste my time. I don't really want to waste my time up here just preaching sermons that is just gonna be like phew, go over everybody's head, or in one ear and out the other. I mean, I don't like, look, I don't like wasting time. I don't know if you've noticed that about me, but I don't waste time. I don't have time to waste in my life. All right, look at James chapter one in verse number 22. Before we talk about the application tonight, and I'm gonna give you some specifics on perseverance tonight. I want to give you some specific tools. All right, I want to give you some, I don't want to just say, hey, persevere, ah! And then just leave. I want to give you some specific tools on how you can persevere. Because look, if you don't do it, you need to learn how to do it. Okay, so that's what I want to show you. Look at James chapter one in verse 22. Here's step one. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man, beholding his natural face in a glass. For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. So this here's a guy that he goes and he looks at himself in the mirror. And then he just like, he turns around, and he just forgets what he just saw. He forgets who he was. This is the person who hears preaching and forgets what the sermon was about before they walk out the door. Right, I mean this is the person who hears the preaching and applies it, you know, for a day, and then just forgets about it. Right, I mean look, don't let Bible preaching turn into like your TV replacement. I mean can't that happen? Can't that happen? Can't that happen from, you know, I mean look, for those of you that used to YouTube church this thing, right, you go and you look at the, I used to do it. You will find the coolest sermons, like you know, Barack Obama die or whatever, right? I mean you're just clicking on all the gummy bears and all this kind of stuff, but you know, stuff that applies to you, you're like eh, eh. No, I want the, you know, go to hell homo. I want that one, right? But look, don't let this turn into some cheap entertainment that isn't sticking to you. Otherwise, you know what, I'm not wasting my time here. You are too. You know, you are too. If you just let this stuff not, if you become a hearer and not a doer, we are all wasting our time here. Okay, so don't be that guy. All right, look, I mean, this perseverance thing, here's how I can, here's how I know. You know, my dad used to always say this to me. If it was easy, everybody would do it. What did he mean by that? He's, it's simple. Look, the gospel is simple. It's very, it's a good analogy. The gospel's simple, yet everyone's going to hell. Perseverance, the idea of perseverance, very simple. But why does no one do it? Because it's not easy. You know, the gospel is easy, obviously. But look, it's not easy to persevere things. I mean, you may know what to do, but it's not easy. You're going to hit hard things. You're going to hit obstacles in your life. And you need to know what to do. All right, so tonight, let me just give you some areas, some specific areas. I just picked a few. We'll just have a popcorn sermon. I just picked a few areas where it's hard to persevere today. Okay, but as a Christian, these are areas that as a Christian, if you don't persevere in these areas, the cost will be heavy. The cost will be heavy for you. Okay, so that's why I picked these areas. Because look, there's, you should make, you should make perseverance a culture in your life. But I'm going to give you some specific areas tonight where if you don't persevere, that there will be serious consequences. All right, the first one is this. Raising godly children. Raising godly children. Look, this takes perseverance. You cannot listen to a couple sermons on raising godly children. I mean, I'm sure you've heard, you know, many sermons on raising godly children. You cannot do that. Apply it for a week and be done. It does not work that way. You have to be consistent and not stop being consistent. Oh, I heard a sermon on discipline, so I'm going to be vigilant for a week, and then after that, my emotions and my wife's emotions will take over and that's it. Well, that's not how it works. You're wasting your time listening to those sermons if that's how you take those sermons. Look, you need to make it a culture. You need to make a culture. Turn to Deuteronomy chapter six. Look, folks, you do not want to be a Christian want to know what failure looks like in this area. You do not want to know. Look, Job, Job lost his, he lost, he had a terrible day. He lost his children. But look, if you fail in the area of raising your children amongst this world that we live in here, that is a disaster that you will have to watch every day for the rest of your life. You could argue that it might be worse in some cases than losing your children. Unfortunately, there is wicked people out there doing wicked things and they're recruiting people into their wickedness. And if you don't get this right, it will be a heavy cost. Look, your children, I mean, think about it. If you don't discipline your small children, it could mean that they turn away from the Christian life. That's what that small mistake could turn into. They could turn away, I mean, they could reject the Lord because you didn't discipline them when they were three or four. That's what that small mistake could turn into later. Are you at Deuteronomy chapter six? Look, there's much danger. There's much danger, it cannot be overstated. Look at Deuteronomy chapter six and verse number six where the Bible says, and these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart. And he's talking about the law here. He's preaching about the law. He's talking about the law of God. And thou shalt teach them diligently. What? The laws of God unto thy children and shall talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou riseth up. And he continues through the chapter and he talks about this in generational type of language. Meaning this isn't when they're four, this is all the time. This is throughout their whole childhood. And this is what they need to be doing when they have children. And this is the only way that it will work. And look, we know from reading the Old Testament that it failed over and over again because they didn't do this. They didn't teach the law to their children, period. That's where they all failed. That's where they all went wrong. So look, it's an area in your life where you have to persevere. You have to. If this applies to you, if this part of this sermon applies to you, let me just tell you something. In this area, you are headed for blessing or disaster. One of the two. It's like the bottles, right? It's gonna be one or the other. I mean, it should scare you a little bit. I've told you that before. Let's look at another one. Let's look at another one. This applies to a lot of people today. Some people even in here. Finding a job, finding employment is hard. It's something that needs to be persevered after. Look, and for many of you, maybe it's not because you know the things that I'm about to say. But look, let's talk about finding a job. There are some things that I didn't see coming out of this whole thing that we're in right now. And one of those things is that there's a lot of opportunity out there right now. There's a lot of opportunity right now from this. You say, why? I mean, everything's bad. The economy's crashing. Why is there opportunity? Well, the reason that there's opportunity is because we live in a socialist state where there's a lot of people who just don't wanna work. And look, people can make nearly as much money right now, sitting at home, than they can actually working. And that's, I mean, look, I've been going into the auto repair shop the last week and a half, fixing up my old vehicles because I'm looking to just keep my vehicles running forever instead of having to buy another car. So I figured I'll just do this this week, and I just love talking to people. Let me tell you some stories. I've been doing this for a long time. I've been doing this for a long time. Let me tell you some stories about the two guys I've been talking to in the last week and a half. And look, I didn't see this coming. I didn't see this coming, but there's great opportunity here. I was telling a brother talking to Soul Winning today, I was like, look, I just love seeing people succeed, and there's a lot of opportunity right here. These guys at this Midas shop that I was going to, he's telling me how people just walked off the job. They're like, they just walked off the job just so they could just go sit home because unemployment went up 600 bucks a month, and then he's talking to me about how they're gonna make another $2,000 a month income for everybody for no reason. He's like, it's gonna be worse. He's like, more people are gonna walk off the job then. But he's like, hey, the owner pulled us aside, and he's like, thank you for being loyal, and he's like, we're getting raises, and I'm gonna be the manager, and all this kind of stuff. Look, there's a lot of opportunity for people. You know, and the guy even said to me, he wasn't even talking about the numbers of, you know, he was just saying, he's like, look, they can make almost as much sitting at home. He's like, but the guy says to me, this guy's not saved. Here's what he says to me. He's like, it just doesn't seem right to just sit at home and not do anything. And I'm like, praise God, man. I'm like, you know, I'm like, don't you ever like question mark that thing that you just said. Because you, you know, that's the, I mean, look, that's the law in that guy's heart, that unsaved man's heart that's telling him, you know what, this just doesn't seem right what they're doing there. Right, so look, turn back to Luke 18. I'm gonna give you some practical advice on how to get a job from this parable in Luke chapter 18. I mean, this guy's not even saved. He's not even saved, and he knew this. Luke 18, look, let's look at Luke 18. Now look, let me ask you something about this lady that's talking to this judge. Did it work for her? Did it work for her what she was asking for? She got what she wanted, didn't she? So I wanna give you just a few steps that this lady did that it worked. Look at Luke 18, start reading at verse number two. Saying there was in a city a judge which feared not God, neither regarded man, and there was in that, there was a widow in that city, and she came unto him saying, avenge me of mine adversary. So she wanted something, and he would not for a while, but afterward he said within himself, though I fear God, fear not God, nor regard man, yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. So look, here's the step one. Step one is this, find the decision makers. If you're looking for a job somewhere, you need to find the decision maker. Who did this lady go to? She wanted something done. She was wronged by somebody, and she wanted something done. She didn't go to her neighbor and complain about it. She didn't go to her friends and complain about it. She went to the judge, and she's like, I'm going to this guy, because he can make it happen. So she went to him. Go, you have to find the decision maker. She found the judge, so that's step one. And I'll get more specific on each of these points by giving you an example when I'm done. But the second thing is this, you need to go to them. You need to go to the decision makers. All right, I'm not talking about, you know, look, did she write him letters? Did she write this judge letters? Did she send him emails? You know, ha ha. But my point is, she went to him. She went to this man. Personally, all day, every day, look, sending applications on, look, listen to me, whether you're watching online or whatever, sending applications on the internet will get you nowhere. Nowhere. No one in the history of hiring anybody has ever hired a resume, ever. Never. You have to be relentless, and you have to go to them. Find that decision maker, go to them. And the third thing is this, if and when, I say, let's just say when, because these things will come up. If and when obstacles are met, remove them. There's perseverance right there. You must, because you will hit obstacles. Look, if it was easy, everybody would do it, right? If it was easy to go just get a good job, everybody would do it. If it was easy, but people hit obstacles and then they stop. That's the problem. Look, now I have followed this three-step process several times, and it works every single time. Let me give you an example of my move to Sacramento. I hunt down, let me just get specific with you. I hunt down hiring managers on LinkedIn. That's what I do. I hunt down, I find somebody who's hiring, I go to their company website, I find them on LinkedIn, I hunt down the people, and then I set up an appointment. I make my own fate. You set up an appointment to get face-to-face with the judge. You find the judge, you set up an appointment to get face-to-face with the judge, because no one's going to hire a resume. I don't care how great your resume is, there's a lot of great resumes out there because people just lie. People just make stuff up. I mean, I can't tell you how many times I've seen, this guy is the most brilliant person on the planet. This guy invented oxygen. I mean, hire him on the spot. You meet him, he's an idiot, because people just lie. They just make stuff up. You have to go to people, all right? So look, a simpler version of this, forget the internet thing, just go to places. Just go to, just go. Just show up to places. Hey, or, because look, you know how many people are out there, you know how many friends I have that own businesses that have just stopped looking for people because they can't find anybody? They can't find anybody that's willing to show up every day, work hard, do a good job. Go to places. Look a man in the eye, shake his hand. I don't know, give him an air elbow bump or whatever they do right now. But you have to go there. You have to show these people your face, right? So when you hit those obstacles, you remove them. Look, the people that I found in Sacramento that I applied for a job and I got an interview, they needed me to take a test. It was a very difficult test. I had never taken this test before. So I just, I dropped everything for a week, I studied for the test, I took the test, and my job was dependent on me passing that test. My wife told me, we moved to Sacramento, I'm working this job, I don't know if I passed the test. She's like, does the results of that test matter? I'm like, it matters, like my job depended on it. And I'm like, nah, it's not a big deal. Every night I can't even sleep until we get the results back, you know? And I'm like, it's fine. She's like, isn't it important? I'm like, no, it's not important. She's like, doesn't everyone fail that test? I'm like, yeah, like it's no big deal. It's no problem. Anyway, look, the Lord will bless these efforts, okay? By some miracle, God laid his hand on me in that case. But my point is this, the whole thing takes very specific action. Look at this lady, she found the guy. She found the guy that could do it. She went to him and just like, he's like by her continual coming to me, I just, fine. That's how it works. People meet you, they see you. They're like, man, this guy came all the way down here. He drove here, he walked into my place of work. I can't even keep people from walking off this job and this guy's coming in wanting to work. I mean, that's how it works. That's who you need to be. That's what you need to do and it will work for you. And look, there's a ton of opportunity out there right now for these people. I wrote an article in 2005 for some conservative website and in the article I had written that these homeschool kids are gonna have such an advantage in the future because they're gonna be like hardworking, self-starting kids and everybody else is gonna be a loser. I mean, I think I put it more eloquently than that but there's just a lot of opportunity right now because a lot of people went home to play video games and get drunk, so take advantage of that. Take advantage of that because that's not us, right? That's not who we are. Take advantage of that. Look, there's guys here that have already done that, already taken advantage of that. I mean, they go out, just hunt those jobs down, just get them and they just drive through in those jobs and they're just doing great. It's awesome. I love seeing it. Nothing makes me happier than seeing people succeed, especially my fellow brothers and sisters. I love it. It keeps me going. Help me. There's a lot of opportunity. I'm here to just announce that to you. I mean, these guys at this auto shop, one of them was 23. He's gonna be running that auto shop in two years. He marked my words. That guy would just, because that, they know what it takes and they just, doors will just keep opening to people like that. I can't preach this hard enough. I mean, it's just, it's great. There's a lot of opportunity even today, even with messed up situations that are out there today. All right? And look, you don't blame me, you say, turn to Matthew chapter four. The Lord, look, the Lord will reward perseverance and labor. Okay? Think, think of this. Think of this. My wife brought this up to me. What were the disciples all doing when Jesus called them? They weren't playing video games. What were they doing? Turn to Matthew four. Look at verse 18. Look at verse 18. The Bible says this, and Jesus walking by the sea of Galilee saw two brethren, Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea for they were fishers. And he said unto them, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. And straightway they left their nets and followed him. And going on from this he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, the sons of thunder, in a ship with Zebedee their father doing what? Mending their nets and he called them. They're all just out there just working. And that's when Jesus said, hey I got something. I got the next level for you. I got the next step for you. Let's go. But they're out there and they're working. And they're doing those things. And they're getting it done. And Jesus calls them out of that. So look, the Lord will reward perseverance and labor. My friends. Think of Elisha. Turn to First Kings chapter 19. Look, I could go on all day long about this one. I mean the guys that were just called out of their labor. Elisha, look at First Kings chapter 19. Look at verse number 19. This is right after Elijah, right? Elijah had just done his great work and he slayed the prophets of Baal. And then God, he was depressed and he just wanted to die because everyone was trying to kill him. Jezebel's trying to kill him. Look at verse 19. So he's told to go call Elisha. In verse 19 of First Kings 19 the Bible says, so he departed thence and found Elisha, the son of Shaphat who was plowing with 12 yoke of oxen before him. And he with the 12th and Elijah passed by him and cast his mantle upon him. And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother and then I will follow thee. And he said unto him, go back again, for what have I done to thee? And he returned back from him and took a yoke of oxen and slew them and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen and gave unto the people and they did eat. Then he arose and went after Elijah and he ministered unto him. Look, the guy was farming. The guy was plowing. He was plowing with a yoke of oxen. He was working when he was called to be a prophet of the Lord. So like, look, so many areas of life that there's so many other areas of life that perseverance could be applied. Here's another one for you. Here's another one for you. Health. I mean, health. I mean, health is important in our life, right? We just, we had a sermon about this a couple weeks ago. Getting healthy takes more than five minutes of effort. Living a healthy lifestyle takes more than five minutes of effort. You know, that's why so many people, by the way, are unhealthy because they just live this lifestyle because look, you know, it's more fun to eat ice cream every day. It's more fun to eat candy all the time. It's more fun to do all these things. So to get healthier, you have to live consistently. You have to persevere in that area of your life. It's gonna take some cultural life changes, right? It takes more than two days of discipline, just like with your kids, right? And by the way, you wanna teach your kids to live healthy lifestyles as well? Look, this is a big one for homeschoolers too. Look, if we take our kids out of the public school system that has all these sports and phy ed programs and all these different things, look, we should replace it with something. Look, I don't think that we should take them to public school and have them be involved in all the sports, like some people do, at the public school. That should not be the answer. That's not separation. You will have problems there. But look, you should replace it with something. You should do healthy things, like taking your family on an eight mile hike. You should do things like this, to keep your family and raising your kids to know that living a healthy lifestyle is important. Your kids should know how to exercise. Your kids should know, you know, the boys, I teach the boys how to lift weights. They should know how to do these things. Because when they get to be adults, they should continue to be healthy adults, no matter what kind of job that they end up having. They should know how to eat healthy, how to exercise, how to take care of themselves. They should, you know, it's not just sin. I mean, just laying around and not eating healthy is enough to ruin your body after several decades. All right, but look, you should teach them to live a healthy lifestyle, even if they're homeschooled. You need to replace that with something. You know, it could be, there's all kinds of physical activity things out there to do. All right? Now look, here's another one. Living, turn to Job chapter two. Living the Christian life, in general. Just living the Christian life, in general, will take perseverance. Because it's not always just gonna be easy. There's going to be obstacles in your Christian life. Look at Job chapter two and verse number seven again. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown. And he took a potsherd to scrape himself withal, and he sat down among the ashes, and his wife said unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God and die. But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh, and what shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips. Look, he wouldn't stop. He wouldn't stop his Christian life. He wouldn't stop what he believed. He wouldn't stop exercising his faith. Nothing would stop Job, and he would not become disloyal to God. You know, the Christian life, you say like what? Like, you know, Bible reading. I mean, now, if you have extra time now, now is probably a good time to either catch up on Bible reading or get a Bible reading program going. Well, look, there's a lot of distractions out there. Distractions are gonna be obstacles to your Bible reading. You know, stupid things like, you know, video games or drinking or sin and all this other stuff. You know, I mean, you don't think Christians do those things? I mean, it's sad, but I'm sure it does. I mean, look, I believe right now that sin is creeping back. Into people's lives. That's one of the things that bothers me the most about what's going on right now. Is because I feel like, you know, if people were struggling with things, and you know, then they get out of church, it's just not gonna be good for people. It's just not gonna be good for people. You know, they're gonna get, but look, you should take it the other way. If you have more time, you should be like, you know what, I'm reading my Bible for an hour and a half a day. If I have more time, I'm gonna read my Bible more. I'm gonna read, I'm gonna do things, I'm gonna put some time aside for prayer. As we've been talking about. I'm gonna give God half an hour of my day every day, and just get in a closet and just pray. And just have a real personal relationship with the Lord. Like a real one. Not like, oh, I pray. I'm going to heaven. You know, because I prayed once three years ago. Look, stupid stuff will creep in and fill these gaps. Push this garbage out of your life. Make some time for prayer. Make some time to read your Bible, and just persevere in your Christian life. So look, folks, I hate to break it to you, but anything worth doing, anything worth doing is gonna take perseverance in your life. And by that very definition of what perseverance means, that means that anything worth doing, whether it's finding a job, or reading your Bible, or raising spiritual and godly children, whether, you know, whatever it is, you're going to hit obstacles. You might hit big obstacles. You might hit small obstacles. But here's the nice thing, though. Here's the nice thing. Once you actually set, you gotta make it a culture. You gotta make it a culture of just who you are. It's real easy. You just set a goal. You set a goal. I'm gonna raise godly kids. That's my goal. That's a big goal. But then you gotta break that goal down, and look, you're gonna hit obstacles along the way. But as long as you see the goal, it's like Brother Trevor plowing the field, right? As long as you're focused on that point, you're gonna get there. You're gonna get there. You set the goal. I'm gonna get that job. I'm gonna get a job. I'm gonna take advantage of this opportunity. Some bad things happened, and jobs were lost, but there's opportunity here. You set that goal, and whatever obstacle you hit, you just drive through it. That's it. There's no obstacle that can't be overcome. There's none. With faith in God and perseverance, you can push through these obstacles. If you have a godly goal, you can get through them if your goal is godly, if your goal is biblical. All right, you just keep going. And look, it's not gonna be easy. Let me just get that out of the way for you. It's not gonna be easy. There's gonna be things that are gonna be hard. They're gonna be difficult. You might be depressed. You might fail. You might fail twice. You might fail five times. You know, I have a saying when it comes to ideas that I've had throughout my career and my life, and my ideas, my idea factor is this, about 10%. You know, I've had some good ideas, but about 10% of my, you know what? That means if I have 10 ideas, nine of them don't work out. But you just keep going. You just keep going. You just keep pushing through, pushing through, and then you get that one. See? Then you get that one. You gotta make it a culture and just never stop. Look, like Job, like a man who lost everything, he lost his own health. You know, how many times have you heard people say, well, at least you have your health? He lost his health, too. You know, that's what Satan, between chapter one and chapter two, told God. He said, oh yeah, well, at least he has his health. That's why he still is faithful to you. Then he took his health away, and he still never lost his faith. He still never became disloyal to God. Like Paul, a man who kept going, you know, through everything, no matter what. Even to the point where he was killed. And still, he's like, I finished my race. Like the woman with the judge. She just persisted until it worked out. So look, make it a culture in your life. And it's not gonna be easy. It's gonna be hard, especially if you're not used to it. Especially if you're not used to it. If you're used to just hitting hard things and just being like, it's too hard. No, it's not. Look, if it's in the Bible, and you're supposed to do it, there is nothing that you can't overcome. Guaranteed. Guaranteed. If it's a biblical goal, you can get there. That's the beauty of it. So you always know, if you're focused on that side of the field, and that side of the field is where God wants you, you will get there. But not if you don't persevere through it, see? All right, perseverance. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for these men in the Bible, Lord, we thank you for all these great examples, and this woman in this parable, Lord. We thank you for all these great examples in the Bible that you give us, Lord, to help us through hard times in our life, Lord. I pray that anyone that's persevering, Lord, that's pushing through difficult times right now, Lord, I pray that you just give them that faith and that encouragement to just help them keep going and push through any obstacles that may come, Lord. Just thank you for this church. Thank you for the fellowship that we have here, Lord. It's such a blessing at a time like this to still be able to meet here and just preach your word and listen to your word, Lord, and sing to you. We thank you for everything. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen.