Hang Tough!

Hang Tough

Context: I Cor 13: 1-13

Text: I Cor. 13:7 – “Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

Introduction

Have you every had one of “those” weeks? You know the times when every thing seems impossible? Or, maybe, you have faced hard times or terrible problems?

How do you handle life when you are “stressing out”?

I believe that the best answer is to “hang tough”.

It means to just stay with it and wait for the problem to be over; or, to just have patience and trust God.

V.R. Mitchell once said, “When you come to a river and you have to get across to the other side and you can’t get over it. And, you can’t get around it. Then, take Jesus by the hand and just go through it”.

Gene Rice is famous for preaching a sermon called “If You Can Take It, You Can Make It”.

The Bible tells about others who have had a “Bad Hair Day” and survived. People like ---

David

Job

Daniel

Three Hebrew Children

Paul

The Bible also gives us instructions as to how to “Hang Tough”.

It comes when we live our lives in absolute assurance and confidence in the love and power of the Lord Jesus Christ.

You can “Hang Tough” when you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is a “light” at the end of the tunnel.

You can “Hang Tough” when you know that you are loved, and that the love of the Lord has filled your soul.

Here it is in the Word:

I Cor. 13:7-13 – “Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”

I. Bear All Things

“Every problem is an opportunity to prove God’s power. Every day we encounter countless golden opportunities, brilliantly disguised as insurmountable problems.” Chuck Swindoll

But, we that are called Christians must be able to “handle them”.

We are to be able to carry the weight of the world on our shoulders. Why? Because, our help cometh from the Lord and the world cannot carry the weight of the world on its shoulders.

David said, “He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me. They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the Lord was my stay.

He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.” Psalms 18:17-19

Bearing means to stand when others cannot or will not stand.

Bearing means to carry the “burden”. The word burden refers to the “carrying capacity of a ship”

Bearing means to “put up with” the troubles and problems of life and still maintain decorum and Christianity.

Bearing means “I will not quit” nor “will I fall”.

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matt. 11:28-30

II. Believe All Things

Faith is believing that this life is a journey. On a journey you will face all kinds of situations.

Good days/bad days

Loss/Gain

Blessings/Troubles

But faith keeps you going. It helps you to deal with the problems of life. Faith is “seeing what cannot be seen with the natural eyes”.

I believe the first answer to facing our problems and being able to “hang tough” is FAITH .

When Paul talks about faith, he is referring to the “ability to believe and trust completely in the word, work, and walk of the Lord Jesus Christ and our ability to also follow His Example”

We are to have a faith that will “bear us up” in the middle of the raging storms around us. It is the “knowing” that God is in control of everything that we face.

Hebrew 11:1 says “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen”.