Perseverance: Sticking With What You Start Series

Hebrews 10:35-36 and 12:1 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised… let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

The Big Idea: People who persevere by sticking with what was started, regardless of the struggle, and step forward by faith, rather than shrink back because of fear, will see God do great things.

A Closer Look At Perseverance

1. Perseverance will be rewarded fully by God.

So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. Hebrews 10:35

Confidence is the courage to continue despite the difficult circumstances.

Do not throw away your confidence means not to give up and go away when something gets hard.

Those who have the courage to continue, by not giving up

and going away, will be greatly rewarded by God.

When those who had the courage to continue are greatly rewarded by God,

they will be glad they did not give up and go away.

I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:4-6

Our confidence comes from knowing God is in control

and will complete what he started in us despite the circumstances around us.

If I am not confident in God’s sovereign control, then I will complain. If I am confident in God’s sovereign control, then I will compliment and help construct.

…it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. Do everything without complaining or arguing… Philippians 2:13

2. Perseverance is required to finish the will of God.

You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. Hebrews 11:36

Perseverance is patiently staying with what was started no matter how great the struggle.

Perseverance is not giving up no matter what you are going through

or going away when things get hard.

Because perseverance is required to finish the will of God,

it reveals that fulfilling the will of God can be painful.

…let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross… Hebrews 12:1-2

The will of God is what he has called us to do and complete despite the difficult circumstances.

By faith, we finish what God has called us to do regardless of how we feel.

3. Perseverance is rooted in faith in God.

For in just a very little while, “He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved. Hebrews 10:37-39

To shrink back means to lose our courage and leave before the will of God is complete. It means to walk away before the work is done because the work is hard.

To shrink back means to get down emotionally believing it can’t happen or because it is too hard.

Accepting the fact that God’s will is many times not easy to fulfill,

will help us endure in order for it to be fulfilled.

If fulfilling God’s plans was easy, it would require no faith.

Difficulty in fulfilling God’s plans is an opportunity to live by faith.

Fear, frustration, or fatigue will cause many to shrink back.

It takes faith to overcome fear, frustration, or fatigue.

Faith is essential to pleasing God and fulfilling his plans.

To live by faith is the continual confidence that God will complete his will and work through us despite the difficult circumstances, which gives us courage not to walk away but to stay.

I am a part of the group of people who do not give up and get out when things get hard.

I am a part of the group of people who sticks with what was started no matter how difficult the struggle.

I am a part of a group of people who will not shrink back because of fear, fatigue, or frustration

but who will step forward by faith.

I am a part of the group of people who will see God do amazing things,

because I am not going to walk away but continue to work hard.

I am a part of the group of people who will continue to believe by faith that God will do big things.