Sherwood Baptist Church has one of the most dynamic media ministries of any church in America. They have produced Facing the Giants, arguably the best feature-length movie ever made by a local church. It’s a God-glorifying, excellently created sports film in the tradition of Hoosiers, Remember the Titans, and Friday Night Lights. Facing the Giants is being released by Sony/Goodwyn and will be in theaters on September 29th.
Accompanying the movie are numerous sermons by such leaders at Johnny Hunt of Woodstock Baptist Church, Michael Catt, Pastor of Sherwood Baptist Church, and Dr. Jay Strack of the Student Leadership Network. You may copy and paste the following links to access these sermons:
1. Evidence of Christian Growth (Johnny Hunt)
URL: http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon.asp?SermonID=94258&ContributorID=15171
2. Overcoming The Grasshopper Syndrome (Dr. Jay Strack)
URL: http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon.asp?SermonID=94257&ContributorID=15170
3. Faith to Face Your Impossibilities (Michael Catt)
URL: http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon.asp?SermonID=94256&ContributorID=15169
4. Hearing God When You’re Hurting (Michael Catt)
URL: http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon.asp?SermonID=94255&ContributorID=15169
5. It’s Always Too Soon to Quit (Michael Catt) URL:
URL: http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon.asp?SermonID=94254&ContributorID=15169
6. What Does It Mean to Live By Faith? (Ron Dunn)
URL: http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon.asp?SermonID=94253&ContributorID=15167
7. Will a Man Serve God for Nothing? (Ron Dunn)
URL: http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon.asp?SermonID=94252&ContributorID=15167
Also, a study curriculum that accompanies the movie may be downloaded at:
http://www.facingthegiants.com/resources.php
Evidence of Christian Growth
2 Peter 1:5-7
Johnny Hunt
Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge; and in your knowledge, self control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness; (2 Peter 1:5-7, NASB)
In these verses is a list of virtues that should be growing in the life of the believer. They are best translated by referring to moral excellence, practical wisdom, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and unselfish love. When we look at a list like this, and at our lives, our first reaction might be to give up. However, we need to remember that there is a cooperative effort between the believer and his or her God, and He produces these qualities.
So the important question for each of us to ask is this: Are all these qualities growing and evident in my life? Once we place faith in Jesus Christ, our Christian life begins in the knowledge of Him who called us (v. 3) and continues in the knowledge of Jesus and God (vv. 2, 5). It will consummate one day in the full knowledge of the One who makes all these virtues possible (v. 8). Three times he talks about knowledge—how you begin with it, how you continue with it, and its consummation. This passage reminds me that I have divine provisions available to me if I will submit and yield to His challenge of Christian growth.
After the Apostle Peter, inspired by the Spirit of God, gives us two letters, he closes both letters with the last verse and says, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever, amen.”
With that in mind, let’s talk a little bit this morning about perseverance. For those of us who love the teaching of God’s Word, you can’t mention the word perseverance without just thinking about the beginning, but also moving all the way to the end. I know that perseverance is a biblical truth in the context that it is the proof of my faith.
In 2 Timothy 1:12, Paul told young Timothy, “For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.”
I don’t know how long your journey has been. Mine has been 33½ years, and the One who put me in has kept me. The perseverance of the saints. By the way, there’s a great truth you need to know in 2 Timothy 1:12. He said, “I know who I have believed.” He did not say, “I know what I have believed.” I want you to know that I knew who I believed before I knew what I believed. You can know what without knowing who and go to hell when you die. Some people are more wrapped up in what they know about God than the intimacy of knowing Him. It’s an intimate relationship with Him that will cause you to want to tell everybody about Him.
The Apostle John said of those who abandoned the faith: “They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, in order that it might be shown that they all are not of us” (1 John 2:19). I think I’ve got a statement I need all of you to hear. I’m not so sure that there haven’t been times in all of our lives that if we could, we would have left. But every time I tried to leave, He followed me like a hound from heaven. You can’t get away from God. Once you come to know Him, you can’t get away from Him. He gets all over you.
Thank God I’m not trying to hold on. I’m being kept by the power of God, and I’m able to persevere because of Jesus. Authentic faith guarantees perseverance in the faith. On the other hand, Scripture is full of exhortation, urging us to persevere.
This morning we’re going to camp with perseverance in the power of faithfulness. Paul made another statement to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:16. “Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things; for as you do this you will insure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.” Timothy’s perseverance would be the proof that his faith was genuine. His perseverance would also guarantee that his ministry to others would be fruitful.
Perseverance has to do with the pressures that spring from the outside. There’s nothing like preaching when you’ve had to persevere that week—when something has been said that made you so angry until you committed it to God.
Let me define perseverance. Many years ago, Cicero said, “It’s the voluntary and daily suffering of hard and difficult things for the sake of honor and usefulness.” Anybody that God ever really uses has to persevere. Didymus of Alexander wrote this on the temper of Job in the context of perseverance: “It is not that the righteous man must be without feeling; although he must patiently bear the things which afflict him. But it is true virtue when a man deeply feels the things he toils against, but nevertheless despises sorrow for the sake of God.” Mohammed Ali (Cassius Clay) said, “The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses—behind the lines, in the gym, not out there on the road. Long before I dance under the lights, you get to want to win more than you want to avoid pain.”
I’ll tell you what’s wrong with the church—we’d rather avoid pain than win. God give me sanctified perseverance that I’d be willing to take the pain in order to see Christ’s victory and His gain.
Ali went on to say that he had confidence in his ability to win to the last. He once said, “There’s not a man alive who can whip me. I’m too fast. I’m too smart. I’m too pretty. I should be a postage stamp; that’s the only way I’ll ever get licked.” That’s perseverance, isn’t it?
There is no such thing as New Testament perseverance that does not have two key ingredients: courage and vibrant hope. I’m not only saying, “God’s given me courage, and I’m going to stay in this fight until the very end.” But also, “I have a vibrant hope. God’s going to see me through. I’ve read the end of the book, and we do win!”
The Bible knows of no such thing as perseverance that is not enduring hardship. You can’t persevere without hardship. When you’re in a marriage and things get rough, remember you said, “For better or for worse.” So you persevere and make the choice to do what is right. It’s patient endurance under trials inflicted by outside forces. It’s the ability to refrain from seeking revenge. It’s the art of remaining calm and collected while others lose their tempers and express themselves in fits of emotion. Perseverance always has a background of courage.
The word perseverance pictures a Christian in training. It’s not something that is automatically developed. Listen to what James said in 1:2-4, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” Perseverance is a work of God. It’s not necessarily something God gives you as much as something God does with you. And then when it’s all over with, you become part of what you’ve experienced.
I went to lunch the other day with my son-in-law, who is pastoring a new church. I asked him how I could pray for him, and he said, “Johnny, I want you to pray for me. I don’t want to just be faithful; I want to be effective.” Some of you could say, “I’ve been faithful.” In other words, you haven’t cheated on your wife or robbed, you tithe. But you can be effective. You can become very intentional in the way you walk and live your life and begin to pray that God would bring people in your life so you can share the gospel. I don’t want to just continue on; I want to continue in.
It means that you remain strong in unwelcome toil and hardship. Sometimes things happen to us that we don’t ask for. God help us to preach the gospel and remain faithful, even when there is unwelcome criticism.
Perseverance is courageous acceptance of everything that life can do to us and the transmitting or transmuting of even the worst events into another step on the upward way. Perseverance does not simply accept and endure. There is always a forward look. If I were to give you the single most blessed text to talk about perseverance, it would have to be from Hebrews 12:
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (vv. 1, 2, NASB).
The author—He’s the one who started it all. The finisher—the consummator, the pioneer trailblazer. Let me tell you what the word author means there. It means there’s no road that you’ve ever walked down that if you could see with eyes divine, you couldn’t see the footprints of the Son of God. He’s already been there. If you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, look carefully; His footprints are everywhere. Joy indicates vibrant hope; endured the cross is courage. The text says Jesus despised the shame. I’m so glad he said that. God never said, “I’m going to send some ugly, hard stuff your way, and I want you to love it.” He stayed the task; He had vibrant hope and courage.
How about the Apostle Peter? He cussed and carried a knife—he was a mean one. But stay with me here—Peter persevered. This Book has been passed down to me, but Peter heard it from Jesus’ lips. However, he knew from bitter experience how easy it is to fail despite his best intentions.
Do you ever fail or feel like a failure? Before Jesus went to the cross, he spoke of his betrayal and how all the disciples would leave Him. Peter jumped in and declared that he would never fall. Do you believe Peter meant that with all his heart when he said it? Absolutely. Eventually he would persevere, but at that time he had courage, but he didn’t kick it into gear. When asked if he had been with Jesus, Peter cussed and swore, saying, “I don’t know the man.”
You see, perseverance does not mean that we’ll never fail. Peter, the one I just told you about, wrote what I’m preaching. You mean I can cuss and swear?—I’m not giving you liberty. But you can get right later and be used mightily.
When we fail, we can seek God’s forgiveness. (1 John 1:9)
When we fail, we can learn from our failures.
When we fail, we can persevere anyway.
Remember, perseverance is a virtue that can endure, not just with resignation, but with vibrant hope!
“People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are successful, you’ll win some false friends and some true enemies. Succeed anyway. If you’re honest and frank, people may cheat you. Be honest and frank anyway. What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight. Build it anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow. Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough. Give the world the best you have anyway. You see, in the final analysis, it’s between you and God. It was never between you and them.” (Mother Theresa)
Two friends were walking through the desert. During some point in the journey, they had an argument, and one friend slapped the other in the face. The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, he wrote it in the sand: “Today, my best friend slapped me in the face.” They kept on walking until they found an oasis where they decide to take a bath. The one who had been slapped got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but the friend saved him. After he recovered from the near drowning, he wrote on a stone: “Today, my best friend saved my life.” The friend who had slapped and saved his best friend asked him, “After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand, and now you wrote on a stone. Why?” The other friend replied, “When someone hurts us, we should write it down in the sand, where winds of forgiveness can erase it. But when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in a stone, where no wind can ever erase it.” Learn to write your hurts in the sand and carve your benefits in the stone. It’s been said that it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate him, a day to love him and an entire life to forgive him. Take the time to live. Do not value the things you have in your life, but value who you have in your life.
When Peter failed the first test he took in God’s school—Perseverance 101—how did Jesus score him? He denied Jesus three times. The Lord Jesus restored Peter, giving him a three-fold commission that is well outlined in John 21:15. Even though that was not Peter’s final faith, he kept pressing on.
He did not succumb to discouragement.
He did not abandon the faith.
He didn’t continue to repeat the mistake. His perseverance eventually qualified him to tell other people how to persevere.
I’m about to read one of my favorite illustrations to you—“The Fellowship of the Committee.” I wanted to find out where it came from. I hope I’m right, but I’m not sure that I am, so I’m telling you up front. Someone called and said they had found that it was someone down in South America. Because of his preaching of the gospel, there was a malicious group there who wanted to do away with him. So he put this on his door, so when they came, they would know who they were coming after.
I am a part of the fellowship of the committed to doing whatever it takes. I have Holy Spirit power. The die has been cast. I’ve stepped over the line. I’m out of the comfort zone. The decision has been made. I’m a disciple of His. I won’t back up, let up, slow down or back away. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure. I am finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless streams, mundane talking, chintzy giving and dwarfed goals. I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions or popularity. I don’t have to be right, first, top, recognized, praised, regarded or rewarded. I now live by present, learn by faith, love by patience, live by prayer and labor by power. My face is set. My gait is fast. My goal is heaven. My road is narrow. My way is rough. My companions are few, my Guide reliable and my mission clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, popularity or meander in the maze of mediocrity. I won’t give up, shut up, let up or burn up until I’ve preached up, prayed up, paid up, stored up, stayed up for the cause of Christ. I’m a disciple of Jesus Christ. I must go until He comes, give until I drop, preach until all know and work until He stops. And when He comes to get His own, He’ll have no problem recognizing me because I’ve dedicated my life to being part of the fellowship of the committed, doing whatever it takes.
We need some more people who will say, “You know, it really is a fight.” Jesus never said, “I’ve called you into My family, and it’s going to be a playground.” It is a blooming battlefield. Those attacks will come and try to steal your joy.
