! Scripture: Romans 5:1-5

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"Endeavor to Endure”

Premise: Tribulation is a part of our everyday lives in little ways or in large ways. Tribulation is the first part of a biblical process to endurance, character, and finally hope. It can also progress the other way into hoplessness – which is the goal of the enemy. How do we endure through trials and tribulations so that we can have hope, and share Hope?

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Painful Truth: We often times are not prepared, equipped, or strengthened ahead of time and when tribulation comes, we get crushed, find ourselves cursing, or even blaming God.

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Practical Application: Job endured tribulation far greater than most of us will ever face, and he enduring not sinning against God.

1. How does Job endure suffering?

a. Worship – Job 1

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b. Holding his tongue – Job 2

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2. How is Job able to endure suffering? - Job 1:1

a. Being blameless and upright

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b. Fearing God

c. Turning away from evil

Positive Encouragement: Why should we endure and be steadfast?

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1. James 5:11 Those who endure are blessed.

2. Its what the battle is about. Satan wants to destroy – cause us to curse God. Revelation 2-3

3. Jesus is our model (Isaiah 52:14)

Post-Meeting Accountability:

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1. Would others describe us as righteous and upright before the Lord? Better yet, would God describe you that way to Satan?

2. Do we fear God or are we afraid of Him?

3. In what ways do we fail to turn from evil? Do we turn off the movie? Do we turn around at the first sight of temptation?

4. What is our first reaction to finding out really bad news, or even slightly bad news? Is it cursing? Is it a bad attitude? Is it anger?

! Teaching Notes (full)

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Scripture:

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Rom 5:1-21 ESV - 1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Premise: Tribulation is a part of our everyday lives in little ways or in large ways. Tribulation is the first part of a biblical process to endurance, character, and finally hope. It can also progress the other way into hoplessness – which is the goal of the enemy. How do we endure through trials and tribulations so that we can have hope, and share Hope?

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I desire for us tonight to recognize that there is a biblical process of refinement that is to come out of tribulation – which is something that we face regularly and I believe will increasingly face as the end draws near. God uses trials and tribulations – the hard stuff in life – to build endurance, develop character through endurance, and the result is hope! More than just enduring hardship, we are to rejoice in sufferings!

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Many of you are currently going through hard times and all of us have gone through many of these things at some time or other. Job difficulties, marriage strain, sleepless nights, struggles with addictions, the loss of a family member or loved one, a friendship that ended in conflict, children that are causing stress, financial loss, unfair accusations from a family member or friend, long hours at work for a project, or maybe even because of our belief in Jesus. I suggest to you that we have a choice with how we go through these things. We can endure, or we can become empty. I bet we all know some who have been emptied of joy, peace, and the fruit of the spirit because of some trial, some suffering.

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Painful Truth: We all want hope, but are we willing to look forward to so-to-speak: tribulations which will produce endurance, endurance will produce character, and character will produce hope? Or do we groan and shy away from hardship? The truth might be that we are not prepared for tribulations by living a life of being ready.

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Share our adoption story:

Many of you know some of our adoption story. 7-8 years ago, we were in the midst of waiting for something to happen with out adoption paperwork. We had responded to a desire that God had laid on our hearts to adopt siblings – but we didn’t know much more than that. We had done all the paperwork, had made lots of inquiries for kids from all over the country, and not a single one really went too far in terms of us being matched with them. We decided after some time to switch to International adoption and were matched immediately with 2 kids from Liberia. We thought; Great! Finally, 2 kids that we have pictures of, our waiting for us, this is fantastic! We didn't realize what a wait we were in for and how many roadblocks there were to actually being able to go and pick them up, so much so, that we were ready to support them forever in foster care in Liberia and go be with them when we

could because they were part of our family - even if we could never bring them back to the US. When things were exciting at first and things were happening, paperwork getting done, things are new, we had hope and joy, but as the situation got tough and looked more and more unlikely, we were faced with an opportunity to go through a trial. Looking back on it, I see that we were given a chance to endure for many years, and it really did bring character and hope in the end, so much so that I started to wonder why I am so afraid of trials and suffering, why I resisted it so. If the trial was God's purpose to bring endurance, character, and hope, why do I want to run and hide.

! ! We can make choices to prepare ahead of time to be ready to endure.

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Sometimes we want things around us to endure - we want to keep our jobs, keep our house, keep our kids or our families, but the Bible teaches us that "things" will perish - there aren't many things that will endure. So, what is endurance and what will endure?   I believe Mark 4 and the parable of the sower and the seed gives us a very good picture of what endurance is.

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Mark 4:16 (ESV) 16 And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy.

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Mark 4:17 (ESV) 17 And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.

! Mark 4:18 (ESV) 18 And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word,

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Endurance then is holding fast to the seed that is sown(the Word), being good soil to promote deep roots, healthy growth and good fruit, such that any opposition to the Word is not enough to make you fall away. Consider the plants that God made. They endure extreme conditions by absorbing as much water as possible, being fruitful and multiplying, being well defended against anything that might devour it, growing deeper and better root systems, and growing to where the light is best. I think the parallel into the spiritual is fairly obvious.

! Practical Application: What does endurance look like and how do we measure up to it?

! Let’s see how Job shows us what endurance/perseverance/steadfastness looks like.

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Read Job 1

1.) How does Job endure suffering? Job 1:20. Right after Job hears that basically everything was taken from him, he rose, tore his robe, fell on the ground and cried like a baby (threw a temper tantrum, started punching things venting his anger, let out a loud scream, yelled at the Lord and gave him a piece of our mind, beat the servants who brought the bad news, let our a string of expletives - blankety blank blank). No, it says he fell and worshipped!!!!!!! That is mind blowing to me!!!! He had great perspective. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away - blessed be the name of the Lord. Job 1:22. In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.  When is the last time you or I took something that hard (losing virtually everything and everyone we had) and just fell down and worshipped God as a first response?????

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 Our first response is an early indication of whether we are prepared to endure. If we are honest – what is our typical response when something bad happens. Even something simple like working on a car – in the Minnesota cold, and our hand slips off the wrench as we try to loose a stuck bolt, and end up gashing up our icy fingers? Do

we thank God that he made our bodies able to do the work and to heal when we get wounded? Do we bless His name or do we use the vessel that is filled with the Spirit of Christ and pour our cursing? We have a choice – we are told to set our minds on things above, so bring every though captive to the obedience of Christ. How in the world do we do this? Let’s look at Job again.

! Read Job 2:

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Job holds his tongue. His wife even tries to tell him to curse God and die. Job refuses to give into the attitude of turning from the Lord, blaming Him and instead takes the bad along with the good (vs. 10). Job did not sin with his lips.

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2.) How was Job able to endure?  Job 1:1 (and confirmed by the Lord in 1:8!!!!). Job is a man is blameless and upright, who fears God, and turns away from evil.

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Notice in verses 1-3 that there is an order to that. Job was described

1. From or in the land of Uz – do we remember that we are in Christ – would we be described that way? We are strangers here and have a heavenly dwelling waiting for us!

2. His name was Job (means “hated” Man, he must have a rough life right from the beginning to have a name like that!). We have Jesus living in us – He who has a name above all names – we are in Him! We also will be given new names – spoken of in Revelation.

3. His qualities – he was blameless, upright, feared God, and turned from evil. His qualities preceded his possessions.

4. His possessions – all the things God had blessed him with

5. His actions – he interceded on behalf of his children continually. He made a sacrifice for their sake. Key word sacrifice. Do we sacrifice some time to pray for our children. Do we see our children as blessings such that they are worth getting up early and praying for them – sacrificing some time working out, or getting some extra sleep, or getting more work done?

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Sometimes I describe myself as being married, having 4 children, living in Forest Lake, etc. But that isn’t really who I am and is slightly out of order in terms of importance. How would I be described? What would the most important things that define me be?

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a) Job was blameless and upright. Now wait a minute – that is a pretty strong assertion – God says so in verse 8!  I have a tendency to read that and think that being blameless and upright is unachievable, except for Job and Jesus and maybe a couple of other people in the scriptures. I think however that we ought to be careful of giving ourselves an excuse to be something less than blameless and upright. Why can't we live that way? What keeps us from being called blameless and upright before God? We are already justified. We need sanctification

b) Job feared God. What does it mean to fear God? Proverbs 8:13 says that the fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. I wonder – do I really hate evil. Some evil I do, but all? Psalm 119:120 says “My flesh trembles for fear of you – and I am afraid of your judgments”. Do we?

c) Job turned away from evil. Do we turn away from evil? James 1:27 says that pure religion is looking after orphans and widows and keeping oneself unstained by the world. We have choices many times every day

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to look at evil, enjoy evil, flirt with evil, or turn from it.

How do we put this into action practically in our daily lives? Jason, how do we do this? What we talked about last month fits perfectly into this. We have THE CHRIST as an example, as the LIVING WORD, the one who gives us strength – HIS GRACE. We need constant revelation of who Jesus is – and to the extent that the person and nature of Jesus Christ is clear to us will determine the extent of our ability to endure hardship well. The same adversary that came against Job is on the prowl looking to bring adversity to each of us.

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Positive Encouragement: Why should we endure and be steadfast? James 5:11 says that those who remain steadfast are considered blessed and the verse then uses Job as a great example of that! Jesus – the greater than Job was marred more than any other (Isaiah 52:14). He endured countless beatings, slander, accusations, mocking, abandonment, abuse of every kind, tempted in every way, and of course crucifixion. He pleased His Father through it all. He only did what pleased His Father (John 8:29). Jesus indwells us and enables us to do the same! How did Jesus endure the cross? Hebrews 12:2 tells us that “... looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."  What was the joy that was set before him? His bride, pleasing His Father, Hearing “with you I am well pleased”, being able to rule and reign at the right hand of His Father? We have Joy set before us – Jesus Christ – He is our groom, we can hear “well done, good and faithful servant”, we will be seated with Christ and will rule and reign with Him. Are these things not enough for us to endure some suffering? Job 42:10 – And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job ----- WHEN he had prayed for his friends. I’m sure we have all had friends who had great intentions and wanted to give some good advice, but didn’t necessarily understand all that was going on and maybe even didn’t give real Godly advice. We have a tendency to write them off and maybe avoid asking for advice from them again, but Job prayed for them – and that is when God restored Job’s fortunes. I think there is a real

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Jason, I’m not convinced. What difference does it make how I go through trials – eventually, we all come to the end of the line. It’s too hard to worship in the midst of suffering. 2 things.

1. If we go through tribulation well, we will be blessed instead of depressed

2. I believe that to the extent that we grow in faith and character in this life will determine our ability to enjoy and reap the rewards in this life and also the next. Revelation (in the 7 letters to the 7 churches) speaks of those who endure, overcome, conquer – we are given a chance to sit with Jesus on His throne, we will be given hidden manna, eat of the tree of life, given the crown of life, not hurt by the second death. I won’t go into more detail on these now, but leave them for you to study and think through – maybe we don’t realize how good those rewards are? If we did, I think we would find it easier to endure.

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I would like us in our small groups or at least as we go about our way tonight – to consider the trials we have been through or are currently in. What keeps us from having an attitude of worshipping the Lord – blessing His name?

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Next month, we will look at character (that is produced from endurance) in the life of Joseph, and the hope that results from enduring through tribulation.

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! "Endeavor to Endure” – short notes

! Scripture: Romans 5:1-5. Marc taught on this a few weeks ago.

! Premise: We all go through tribulation – examples

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My desire tonight is for us to think through and realize that God’s method of building character is through tough times, trials, and tribulations and that we can plan (endeavor) ahead of time to be ready to endure.

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Painful Truth: We often times are not prepared, equipped, or strengthened ahead of time and when tribulation comes, we get crushed, find ourselves cursing, or even blaming God. We have a choice -We can endure, or we can become empty!

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Share our adoption endurance story

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So, what is endurance? Mark 4:16-18 – the parable of the sower and the seed. We see a picture of endurance. Seed, good soil – root leads to endurance, Bad soil, thorns, rocky soil – no endurance

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Practical Application: Job endured tribulation far greater than most of us will ever face, and he endured not sinning against God. The word of God if you will was planted solid in Job. Explain God vs Satan

1. How does Job endure suffering?

a. Worship – Job 1

b. Holding his tongue – Job 2

2. How is Job able to endure suffering?

a. Being blameless and upright

b. Fearing God

c. Turning away from evil

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Positive Encouragement: Why endure?

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James 5:11 Those who endure are blessed. Job latter days blessed more than the first.

• When did that blessing come – when he prayed for his friends – for the Lord to not deal with them according to their folly

2. Its what the war is about. Satan wants to destroy – cause us to curse God. Rev 2-3

3. Jesus – the greater than Job was marred more than any other (Isaiah 52:14). He endured countless beatings, slander, accusations, mocking, abandonment, abuse of every kind, tempted in every way, and of course crucifixion. He pleased His Father through it all. He only did what pleased His Father (John 8:29). Jesus indwells us and enables us to do the same!

! Describe what Job did feel and

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Post-Meeting Accountability:

1. 2. 3. 4.

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Would others describe us as righteous and upright before the Lord? Better yet, would God describe you that way?

Do we fear God or are we afraid of Him?

In what ways do we fail to turn from evil? Do we turn off the movie? Do we turn around at the first sight of temptation?

What is our first reaction to finding out really bad news, or even slightly bad news? Is it cursing? Is it a bad attitude? Is it anger?

Next month, we will look at character (that is produced from endurance) in the life of Joseph, and the hope that results from enduring through tribulation.