II Timothy 2:3: Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus
Christ. (KJV)
This is the Second Epistle of Paul the
Apostle to Timothy. It depicts Christ “As Our Example.”
Paul’s occasion for writing the epistles was the need to maintain the
faith and to insure the continuity of the Church of “Jesus the Christ.”
The solemn charge----“That good thing which was committed unto thee,
keep by “The Holy Ghost” which dwells in
us” (2 Tim. 1:14) ----is the heart of the Pastoral Epistles.
Paul was telling Timothy and Titus, together with all the Church, are
charged to keep “the faith,” “the deposit,” the written record, by the work of
the Holy Spirit and YOU SHALL ENDURE!!!
“Know that “I Am” forming within you the fortitude to stand up to all
manner of testing, says ‘THE LORD.’ For
when you shall see the world in upheaval, so shall you stand strong and not
retreat. I even call you this day a soldier that “SHALL ENDURE!!!”
The word for the body is, “YOU SHALL ENDURE!”
As much as living the Christian life is about loving God and enjoying
the peace He gives, we have to remember that Christianity drafts us into an
army called “the army of God.” Whether
we want to face it or not, we are in spiritual warfare.
2 Corinthians 10:3: For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war in the flesh: 4(For the weapons of our warfare are not
carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)5Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself
against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the
obedience of Christ;6And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your
obedience is fulfilled.
The entire Bible is filled with combative discussion about the power of
God defeating evil. In Matthew 10:34, Jesus said, “I came not to send peace,
but a sword.” Jesus isn’t saying He doesn’t offer peace; He is saying that
when the Kingdom of God enters an atmosphere where there is darkness, conflict
arises.
Everywhere Jesus went He created a stir. The early apostles encountered
ongoing and vehement opposition. We shouldn’t think that we will encounter less
if we are truly in the Kingdom.
The Lord needs us to willingly enter the battlefield as a soldier, not
just as peace-loving believers who don’t want to make waves. So even in the
trials you face in your own life, you need to approach them as a soldier. While
that won’t be the only angle with which you address these trials, it does need
to be one of them. How many know that God don’t want no coward soldier.
Hallelujah!!!!
In everything you face, God is developing your skills specifically as a
soldier, so you can withstand anything. So, declare today that YOU SHALL ENDURE!!!
The subject of trials is a natural starting point for the
simple reason that everyone in the world encounters them. Because the enemy
comes to steal, kill and destroy, we experience trouble sometimes on a regular
basis whether we are Christians or not.
Even when we succeed in getting our own little worlds under
control, something inevitably messes up. We do everything we can to attain
peace and comfort by protecting ourselves from trouble, but trouble seems to
arise, nonetheless.
Marriage was designed as a source of fulfillment and
happiness, yet 1
Corinthians 7:28, says those who are married "shall have trouble in the
flesh." There is going to be trouble even in the best of what God gives to
us, because of the sin principle that is active in the world.
Jesus Himself experienced trouble and warned His disciples
to expect tribulation in the world. (John 16:33) says; “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might
have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have
overcome the world.”
John
11:33; “When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also
weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled.”
John12:27; “Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father,
save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.” And 13:21;
“When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit, and
testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto
you, that one of you shall betray me.” These scriptures record Jesus' troubled
responses to the devastating effects of sin.
Paul said, “we are troubled on
every side, yet
not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair” (2 Cor. 4:8). So, it
is reasonable to expect trouble in our lives as well. We experience it in our
families, from our friends, on our jobs, at school, and with our nation.
It comes in the form of criticism, persecution, illnesses, death
of love ones, personality conflicts, or inflation. Trouble may seem like a way
of life, and it seems as though you’re the only one in it, but baby you're not alone
if you're experiencing it.
Let’s take a look at the Reason for
Trials
Trials accomplish two important works in
our lives. First: trials
improve, or mature, us.
Second: trials test our faith:
“Trials
come to prove us and improve us.”
You
know that the
testing of your faith produces [patience].
James 1:3: Knowing this,
that the trying of your faith work patience.
James was not teaching something new. He was telling readers
what they already knew about trials. They test our faith!
The Greek word for “knowing of” is epis’tamai. It means, “To put one’s attention on, fix one’s thoughts on, to be acquainted with.” This is knowledge, but with no personal interaction or relationship.
The Greek word for “knowing” personally is ginō’skō, and it means “to learn, to know, get
a knowledge of, feel.” This is intimate knowledge.
A jeweler gives what is called
"the water test" as one of the surest tests for identifying a true
diamond. An imitation stone is never as brilliant as a genuine stone. But
sometimes the difference can't be determined with the unaided eye. A jeweler
knows that a genuine diamond placed in water sparkles brilliantly while the
sparkle of the imitation is practically extinguished. That test makes picking
the real diamond rather easy.
By way of analogy, we’ll find that the faith of many people
under the water of sorrow or affliction is nothing but an imitation.
However, when a true son of God is immersed in a trial, he
will shine as brilliantly as ever.
An early scholar once stated: "I believe in getting
into hot water. I think it keeps you clean." Now you are talking
about a sure way for testing to see if we are genuine believers.
Sometimes there is no better test than the hot water of
difficult circumstances.
How one handles trouble is an indication of the reality of
one's faith or the lack of it (faith).
That is why James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus
Christ, whose purpose is to give us tests of living faith, introduces the test
of trials.
James says in his salutation that if your Christianity is
genuine, it will prove itself in times of trouble.
If my faith in God is only good when I'm doing well, then it
is of little value.
True faith is to sustain me when everything goes wrong. James 1:2 says, "My brethren, count it all joy (gladness,
cheerfulness, calmly happy) when ye fall
into divers temptations (meaning various trials).
The Greek word for "various" (poikilos - poy-kee’-los)
means "many colored" or "variegated (means marked by
variety). One of the definitions of
variety is a group set off from other
groups by specific characteristics. Talking about the Sons of God which
typifies the “Sun” – “a church”, dressed with the “Light of God.”
Back to the definition of various: Various emphasize
not the number, but the diversity of trouble that can come our way.
The Greek word for "trials" (peirasmos - pi-ras-mos’)
refers to that which breaks the pattern of tranquility or happiness. We don't
know what specific trials James had in mind as he wrote, but his instruction is
applicable to any trial we might encounter.
You Shall Endure because The Sons are
made to go through their trials.
Well, how do you know preacher!!!!
Because we are the SON/SUN and we are established with the
fullness of Christ and arrayed with the promises and truth of God. We are a
church dressed with the light of God, dawning (coming forth with Christ’s mind) a new day on the east
side.
The sun rises in the East which denotes the beginning of the
dawn of a new day!
How many know that God’s power and source of divine
intelligence is beamed to us in the rays of the sunlight! Hallelujah!!!! Oh,
Praise God!
The very thoughts of God’s mind are generated through the rays
of the sun. 1John 1:5: God is
light, and in him is no darkness at all.
This word “light” is the root word phos, meaning to shine or make manifest by rays; fire: or [light
as reaching the mind]. As the
revelation light of the light of God’s mind reaches our minds by the Holy Ghost
we can see as God sees and understand with His mind or the mind of Christ. Let’s look at Revelation 1 (the key to interpretation of what John saw
in the Spirit):
·
Vs 19: Write the things
which thou hast seen and the things which are, and the things which shall be
hereafter: vs 20: The mystery of the seven stars which
thou saw in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels (messengers)
of the seven churches: and the seven
candlesticks which thou saw are the seven churches.
For John to get this revelation he was “in the Spirit”. Revelation
1:10: “I was in the Spirit on the
Lord’s day”. The Lord’s Day is not
just Sunday, but it’s every day, Sunday through to the following Sunday! Psalm 118:24: This is the day that the LORD hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in it! Every day that comes and goes is “The LORD’S Day”!! The same way John got the revelation
(understanding the mysteries of God’s Word), we have to get it the same way,
“in the Spirit”!!
·
1 Corinthians 2:12: Now we have received not the
spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the
things that are freely given to us of God.
Vs 13: Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s
wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches; comparing spiritual
things with spiritual. Vs 14: But
the natural (psuchikos’)
[sensitive (frail; carnal; flesh)] man receives not the things of
the Spirit of God: for they are
foolishness unto him: neither can he
know them because they are spiritually discerned.
Remember, we are children of the light that God Himself is: 1
Thessalonians 5:5: You are all the children (sons) of light and the children (sons) of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
When we come to God-ship we will also possess the power to
think as God and to create sons to radiate our power with the source of energy
that comes from Elyown (el-yone’) (the Most High God)!!!
Acts 17:28 states,
“For in him we live and move and have our being. “ And because of that, despite what we may go
through, we already know that we are the victors and not the victims.
So “endure”
as a good soldier, because “Greater is
he, that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4.4).
Assistant Pastor Jackie Burton
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