Surviving Seasons of Uncertainty
4-Part Bible Study Series

Part 2: Spiritual Persistence

Synopsis of April 1, 2020

Delivered by Bishop Joseph W. Walker, III, D.Min.

1 Corinthians 15:58 KJV – “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”

God wants us to know how to life out our lives faithfully.

       I.            WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE FAITHFUL?

1. When we’re talking about persistence we talk about faithfulness. There is nothing more important in your life in this season than to be faithful.
2. What does it mean to be faithful? By definition, it is an adherence to a person or thing. A promise at which a tie is contracted.
3. God rewards those who are faithful. When we are faithful, we trust that God will take of us.
4. Faithfulness doesn’t mean we will be perfect. It simply means that every day, we will try to be consistent to God’s commandments.
5. God is looking for faithful people. 50% of Americans belong to church. 19% of Americans don’t have a religious preference. Only a 3rd of Americans read the bible once a week. How can you be faithful to something that you are not committed to?
   1. What would happen if we flipped through the bible once a day or used it in case of emergency? What if we would be eager to go back and get it, if we forgot it? Imagine how much better we would be?
6. One great thing about the bible is, you don’t ever have to worry about it being disconnected.

     II.            WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF BEING FAITHFUL?

1. God can trust you with more.
   1. God wants to know if he can trust you. Most of what He releases has much to do with if we can be trusted.
      1. A lot of your relationship with God has to do with whether God can trust you. Think about it, we don’t even give our kids a key to the house until we feel like we can trust them.
   2. This is the only way we can be what he called us to be.

Matthew 25:21 (NKJV) 21 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ – We complain about our small beginnings, but God wants to know how we will handle the little things. How we handle the little things is an indication of how we will handle big things.

3. Being faithful is to show that I treat my possessions as if they belong to God.
4. Trustworthiness is built by surrendering everything we have to God.

1. Brings credibility to your name.

Matthew 5:16 (NKJV) 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.- You begin to realize that we go through a process where God makes us credible and faithful. Can God trust you through this season? Can God trust you to let your light shine through this season?

1. God is looking for us to be examples. God wants us to be responsible. He wants to know he can trust you with what He gives you. This is what faithfulness looks like.

  III.            BIBLICAL EXAMPLES

1. Faithfulness in Covenant – Abraham
   1. You got to be willing to move when God says move. God says to Abraham the He would make his name great.
   2. Abraham’s didn’t allow his disobedience to take God’s blessing away. He followed God’s direction through faith.
2. Faithfulness in Conflict – Jeremiah

Lamentations 3:19-24 (NKJV) 19 Remember my affliction and roaming, The wormwood and the [a]gall. 20 My soul still remembers And [b]sinks within me. 21 This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. 22 Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. 24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!”

1. Jeremiah was about to slip, but he saw God and his goodness. He realized that his mercy was sustaining him.
2. Jeremiah came back to his senses, because he remembered that God had been faithful to him.
3. Faithfulness in Connection – Sarah

Genesis 17:16-19 (NKJV) ¹⁶ And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her.”

¹⁷ Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” ¹⁸ And Abraham said to God, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!”

¹⁹ Then God said: “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him. – Abraham was not always faithful, but God was powerful enough to make it happen.

John 15:1-4 (NKJV) 15 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. ² Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He ^[a]takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. ³ You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

– God knows where you are and your capabilities.

1. We often want God to join us in our stuff. God wants us to instead line our faithfulness up with his faithfulness.

 IV.            HOW THE ENEMY ATTEMPTS TO CAUSE US TO BE UNFAITHFUL

1. Affliction – Job 1:9-11 (NKJV) ⁹ So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? ¹⁰ Have You not ^[a]made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. ¹¹ But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse^[b] You to Your face!” – Satan tried to explain to God that Job only trusted him, because he had a hedge around him.
   1. Just like the scripture, in this season the hedge has been removed. Can we still serve God?
   2. Anyone can be faithful to God before Corona, but can you be faithful to Him now?
2. The Failure of Others – Satan uses other people’s issues to pull you away from God. Some people will quit coming to church, just because someone at church made them mad.
   1. Paul says in Romans 8:39 that neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Paul said he would let nothing separate him from the love of God.
   2. When I connect with God, I will let nothing separate me from God.
3. The Lure of Culture – Culture can pull you away. In these days, we have allowed culture to get stronger than the church.
   1. Even now, people don’t want to do what God wants us to do, because culture urges us to do something different.

James 4:4 (NKJV) ^4 [a]Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. – If we keep following with culture, you become an enemy against God.

Matthew 6:33 (NKJV) ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. – We’ve got time for everything else, but not God’s word.

2. We have time for everything else but God. We make sure our kids have time to do recreational activities, we have time for our own recreation, and we make time to do everything else we want to do, but we don’t have time for God.
   1. In this season of the Pandemic, maybe God is calling us to reevaluate the way we spend our time. Maybe God wants us to take this time to put our lives in better alignment with Him.

    V.            KEYS TO A FAITHFUL LIFESTYLE

1. Be consistent in your confession
   1. We don’t have to produce faithfulness alone. God gives us the power to do this.

Isaiah 40:29-31 (NKJV) ²⁹ He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. ³⁰ Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, ³¹ But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.

1. Work as Unto God Not Man
   1. God gives us strength to be faithful people because we do it for him.
2. We do this for God’s glory. Do not let the role others play discourage you.
3. Sometimes faithfulness to family and friends can pull us away from God. Proverbs 27:9-10 (NKJV) ⁹ Ointment and perfume delight the heart, And the sweetness of a man’s friend gives delight by ^[a]hearty counsel. ¹⁰ Do not forsake your own friend or your father’s friend, Nor go to your brother’s house in the day of your calamity; Better is a neighbor nearby than a brother far away.
4. Do Not Change Your Course
5. Stay the course that God set for you.
6. Faithfulness is staying faithful to something. When you hit head winds or turbulence on a plane, the pilot does not change will not change its course. He continues to the planned destination. Forget what’s behind and press towards the mark. Don’t turn away from what God has pointed you to.
7. Can you speak well of God despite what’s going on? Faithfulness is important. Consume your life with praise.

 VI.            WHAT ENHANCES YOUR FAITHFULNESS?

1. The Word – God’s Word is what keeps me faithful is this season.

Psalm 119:11 (NKJV) ¹¹ Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You. –  If you ever get God’s word in your heart, it will prevent you from disappointing God. People who are faithful, have God’s word in their hearts.

1. Winning in Warfare -What we are dealing with now is warfare. It is not time to rollover and be a wuss. You’ve got to declare that you are not going to allow this war to have your family, your job, or your spirit!
   1. When you are in battle, you’ve got to win this thing. You’ve got to be willing to say Lord, “I’m going to win this war”. You may lose a few battles, but you will win this war! You are coming through this!
2. Worship – Hebrews 10:25 (NKJV) ²⁵ not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. – This season is teaching all of us the importance of coming

together.

1. You need community. After this is over, revival is going to break out!
2. Your faithfulness requires you to be in worship. Look how easy it is to be in worship. We complained about getting up early and going to church, but now we can stream everything. We don’t have to even have to get dressed to go to church.
3. God wants us to have the same enthusiasm to worship Him when this Pandemic is over. God wants us to get out of your bed He blessed us with, get out of the house He blessed us with, and get to the house God and be a worshipper.
4. When I worship God, I’m faithful regardless to how things turn out.

One of the greatest examples ever given of worship during a storm is by a song writer who was traveling on the Atlantic Ocean. He had gotten the news that his family had perished in an accident. He had lost both his wife and his daughter.

While on his way to them, still on the ship, he took out a pen and paper and wrote these words:

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

When you’re a worshiper, you can say, “I don’t know all the answers about this crazy season, but Lord I do know that you count on me to be faithful, , because through all of this,  it is well with my soul.

Through this, God is looking for consistency. I’m going to praise you now, just like I did before all this happened and I will still praise him with this is over.