Resilience Part 2 | To All The Martyrs

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Resilience Part 2 | To All The Martyrs

Resilience

October 8, 2023 • Ps Tammy Hopkins • Revelation 12:10–13

As we continue with the series on Resilience, Pastor Tammy takes us through a thought provoking sermon on perseverance, overcoming obstacles and martyrdom.

We are taught to be resilient so that we can overcome, but how can we do that when we are faced with so much adversary? Revelation 12 gives us some clues about how overcomers are RESILIENT.

Revelation 12:10-11 NKJV

‘Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accused them before our God, day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.’

First way that we become resilient is to be:

1. CONSISTENT:

Satan will accuse us and make us feel guilty and this in turn makes us STOP. He is an accuser, and that's what he is always doing, so it's important that we don’t try to fight him with our own strength. We don’t fight accusations with good works, because accusations will keep coming. The key is understanding the BLOOD OF THE LAMB.

We need to stand firm on what Jesus did for us and focus on His works and not our own. We cannot overcome it by ourselves. Scripture teaches us that ‘They overcame him by the BLOOD OF THE LAMB.’ V11. That is how we overcome. We don’t fight with good works, we fight it with our identity in God. When we fight with our IDENTITY, instead of stopping we become CONSISTENT. Therefore, it's important that we don’t let ACCUSATIONS STOP us. Instead, we must live in the victory that what the devil is accusing us of is forgiven.

Too many we mess up or fall into sin, and then we struggle to get up again, we struggle with being resilient because we allow the accusations to make us stop instead of understanding that we are still the Children of God because of the Blood of the Lamb, we are accepted.

2. CONFESS THE TRUTH

Along with ACCUSATIONS, comes DECEPTION.

Deception is everywhere. The devil is trying to drive out the truth from this world. He is trying to drive it out of schools, out of society, even out of the church. However, this should not make us scared, it should not make us silent. We learn that we can overcome through our testimony: That is our key.

Even scripture says that they: ‘Overcame him by the word of their testimony.’ V11.

o Their Testimony

The Greek word Marturia - the original meaning is that of a witness in a law court. Someone who has direct and personal experience of events in which he took part, or of persons he met, and testifies in court as to what he has seen or heard.

Picture the scene:

Satan before God accusing us, and you step up and share your testimony, and the accusations are slashed. The TRUTH wins because of your confession.

A friend of yours struggling in their relationship with God because of challenges, and you share your testimony of how God got you through the difficult time, and your friend’s faith is renewed.

The TRUTH wins because of our confession. Our testimony is not just words, but it’s declaring, to everything unseen, what God has done, so our testimony becomes a power and a treasure, but we need to talk, confess.

The Greek word marturia comes from the word martyr. If we stand for truth, even for good works, we will experience Martyrdom in some way. Maybe that’s why we are so shy to speak - we know that something isn’t the truth, but we struggle to talk because there will be a cost.

However, If we remain silent, the deceit from the devil's kingdom advances and the truth of God's Kingdom diminishes. It's important to note that, we become resilient when we know and confess the truth to ourselves and those around us.

3. BE COURAGEOUS

Not only do we have ACCUSATIONS and DECEPTION against us but also VIOLENCE.

Violence can make us shrink back and be satisfied with LESS THAN, we even become cynical. Trauma does that - violence does that. It makes us step away to find the safest place and stay there. However, we need to be courageous, we need to be strong and brave. Scripture teaches us that: The KEY is ‘They did not love their lives to death.’

No one is saying that we all need to go and do God’s work in the most dangerous places, but it means we need to be obedient without shrinking back and clinging to our lives. It is true that in the martyr we have the fullest practical token of that spirit of devotion to Christ which loves Him more than life itself; but the spirit of such devotion and such love has breathed in thousands who have never died the martyr's death, but who have devoted their lives to Him they loved.

The martyr spirit needs not death to show itself; many lose their lives for Christ's sake who have never been called to lay down their lives for Him, and these, as truly as those who have passed away in the shroud of flame, have loved not their lives unto the death (Enduring Word).

Food For thought:

- Accusation - Stop Or Be Consistent

- Deception - Silent Or Confess The Truth

- Violence - Shrink Back Or Be Courageous

Finally, John on Patmos: Revelation 12:11 ‘They overcame by the blood of the Lamb (He had witnessed Jesus’ blood running and the accusations yet he did not stop), by the Word of their testimony (He had testified of Jesus’ life and words, proclaiming the truth, against deception and recorded them, he was not silent), and did not love his life unto death (Jesus shares His revelations with John whilst on Patmos in captivity, and John receives it because in His trauma/violence, he did not shrink back)

Questions To Ponder On:

- Where are you?

- Is the devil winning in your life?

- Have you stopped, become silent or shrunk back?

- Is it time to live the life Christ has called you too?

-Is it time for you to be consistent, confess the truth and be courageous?

Resilience Part 5 | Don't Give Up, Just Show Up!

October 29, 2023 • Megan McCleland • Hebrews 12:1–3, Matthew 6:9, 1 Corinthians 9:26, Hebrews 11:1–3

As we continue with our series on Resilience, Pastor Megan takes us through a journey of encouragement and not giving up in the Lord. Last week Pastor Bruce mentioned John 15: 4 which reminds us that we can't do anything apart from God, therefore we shouldn't even try. However, as humans, we sometimes try to do things by our own strength and we end up running dry and then we try to draw from our personal strength. However, it should not be like that - if we draw from Him, if we remain in Him, then we will have life - we won't run dry. As believers, we need to constantly tap into our source that is Jesus and draw from His strength and His leading. This doesn't mean we won't have struggles, but rather when we do, we will be anchored because we are connected to our life source - Jesus. Resilience teaches us to keep fighting, to keep pushing and we learn and experience this from the people we encounter in our lives. The lessons we get from Resilience might be from fighting illnesses or going through hard challenges in life. However, being resilient means not giving up. It's that will to fight, to keep pushing and through it all trusting in God. We cannot do life on our own and we shouldn't even try. Our foundation is God, He is our strength when things are hard. So, we need to keep showing up even when life gets rough. The truth is that life is precious, it's a gift. We can’t waste it by being trapped by fear and worry. However, what we can do is focus on each day, live each day as if it is our last and run our race with endurance. In fact the bible says to run so as to win a prize, like an athlete. And to do that, to get to the finish line, we should practice self-control. This is what we learn from 1 Corinthians 9:26-27. The apostle Paul says that though he might be preaching to others, preaching about Jesus and pursuing a godly life, if he doesn't watch himself he might fall. He might give in to temptation and be disqualified. The warning here is to not give up our faith in the hardship of life, to not give into temptation and throw in the towel. As believers, we must Keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, keep giving Him our struggles, stay in His word and hold tight to our first love (Him). We must not give up. We all go through struggles, however, having struggles doesn’t make us bad people or bad Christians', it just means that we are human and in need of the one who created us to help us. We need God. He is the perfecter of our faith. He gives us the strength to go through whatever comes our way. God is for us even when we go through the hardships of life, the most important thing to know is that He is there and He is with us. - As believers we have witnesses cheering us on so we should not give up - We must get rid of the sin that holds us back on this race ( yes Jesus loves us as we are, but He doesn't want us to stay that way. We must get rid of sin and keep giving it to Him, this could be daily depending on our struggles. But no matter what, Just show up and say I'm here - I need you. - We must fix our eyes on Jesus. He will make us, He will carry us. A thought: We should not be okay with just the thought of surviving. But we must want a life of being in His daily presence. We must aim to know and have a personal relationship with our heavenly Father. We must aim for the assurance and confidence in having the peace of God. That assurance that even when things are going wrong and it doesn't make sense, He is there. He is in control. So, in running our race lets Expect the God of the impossible to step in. Lets have faith that He is going to give kingdom solutions. He is working it out and He is using you and I for His Kingdom. Food for thought: Are you running your race with the confidence that God is with you? That He is giving you Kingdom solutions or are you trusting in yourself and your own capabilities?

Resilience Part 4 | Not Folding Under Pressure

October 22, 2023 • Ps Bruce McCleland • Psalm 34:19, Psalm 11:3, Romans 8:28, 2 Corinthians 4:7, Matthew 11:28

As we continue with the series of resilience, Pastor Bruce takes us on a journey of reflection and perseverance - springing back to action after trouble. But why do we get compressed and fold under pressure? Is it because the pressure that is outside is greater than the pressure that is inside of us? Are we spiritually strong enough to resist the pressures of the world? We don't have to succumb to the pressures of this world. However, if we have nothing inside to counter what's confronting us on the outside then we will cave and succumb. If we are not spiritually strong enough to overcome certain situations then we succumb and back slide. The truth is, we need to learn spiritual resilience because everything has a spiritual context. We need to operate out of spiritual strength and not physical strength. We all have spiritual resilience inside of us but we will only know and exercise this if we know what's inside of us: Jesus. So, how do we build spiritual resilience? Psalm 11:3 teaches us that we can have a peace of mind because we can acknowledge that the Lord is on His throne. We can be humble and let go of control. We have to focus on what we can control and release those we can't control into His hands. We have to reshape how we think. In a world full of substitutes for coping, we can look to God to help us cope. He is our coping mechanism. Therefore, in order to cope we need to take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ - 2 Corinthians 10:5. Romans 12:2 tells us to not conform to the pattern of the world but we need to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. The only one who can renew our minds and transform us is God. That is why it's important that we look to Him in every situation. Here are questions to ponder on: - How strong is your tenacity? - Do you need to let go of the world's coping mechanism? - What is making you anxious? - Are you trusting God? It's not easy to let go of control but: We need to trust and know that He is the Lord and He has it under control. We can have rest for the heart. We can take rest in Him because we know that we can approach Christ, we are not restricted but we are free and He loves us. So, are you spiritually resilient? Are you building your spiritual resilience?

Resilience Part 3 | Spiritual Buoyancy

October 15, 2023 • Ps Ray Menchaca • Job 1:21, Daniel 3:17

Join pastor Ray Menchaca, as he teaches on Resilience and spiritual buoyancy. Life can be a bit difficult and we may face certain situations, we ought to come back right up. We have been given the spirit of Christ to continue. It is understandable that life can knock us down but we need to learn resilience - even Jesus said we will have trouble in this world. The truth is we need resilience to continue in life. Sometimes when we suffer, our instinct is not resilience but to ask 'why'. We have 2 natural dispositions when things go wrong: Moralism and Cynicism. Moralism: God why are you punishing me? I didn't pay my Tithe and that's why… Moralism makes us think that if we do the right thing then we will get the right things. However, life doesn't work that way. Sometimes we suffer even when we do the right thing - suffering is inevitable. Cynicism: when suffering happens we attribute it to our luck. Both of these are spiritual dead ends. However, focusing on Jesus builds our resilience. He is our guide and He will always make a way. We find the perfect example of resilience in the story of Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego. Their resilience and trust in God is a perfect example of how we should be - what our posture should be. We also see the same resilience in Job. He blesses God even though things are not going well. That is how we should be and even though it's tough to do that - we trust in God because we have been given the Holy Spirit to guide us. In Jesus we have the image of resilience and this is shown when the devil tried to tempt Him but He kept on overcoming him with the word of God - 'it is written'. We need to be anchored in the word of God to build resilience in us and help us overcome. We see this in the garden of Gethsemane as well. Though He was in agony, He still persevered, He showed resilience and because of Him we can be resilient. So how can we grow and be resilient? What not do do: - Guard against becoming careless about Spiritual disciplines. - Avoid becoming indifferent to other people - Avoid being lazy about sin What to do to build resilience: - Have emotional realism - Understand that we are temporary custodians - Have the end in mind