Christine Caine: How Faith, Endurance, and Pressure are all Connected

so you build endurance when you keep going at the point you want to quit now we're gonna dive together into the book of Hebrews and the writer to the Hebrews you've got to remember was writing to the Jewish Christians who are under a time of incredible trial and persecution now many of these guys had wondered if they had made the right decision to become Jesus followers because of all the persecution that they were suffering and they were tempted to go back to to the safe haven Haven of traditional Judaism they thought you know what if we go back our families are going to like us our friends are going to like us our employers are going to like us they had lost all of their rights all of their privileges all of their stature and Society by becoming Jesus followers and it was just too costly and so many were going back and just going look I think I'm just going to go back because it was a lot easier so the writer to the Hebrews was encouraging them to stand firm in their faith and I love it because he uses athletic imagery he wrote in Hebrews 12 verses 1 to 3 therefore since Wilson have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us let us run with endurance the race that lies before us keeping our eyes on Jesus the source and Perfecter of our faith for the joy that lay before him he endured the cross despising the shame and sat down at the right hand of the Throne of God I love this so much it goes on to say consider him who endured from sin as such hostility against himself so that you may not grow weary or faint-hearted so that you may not grow weary or faint-hearted now this passage of scripture it paints it paints a picture of a grandstand full of people who are not Spectators but Witnesses you know when you go to the football well you go to a sporting event and they're at grandstands full of people well that's one thing because those people are spectators we're watching the game together but this is a grandstand full of witnesses these are not people that have just turned up to watch someone else play the game these are people who have successfully overcome they ran their race they finished their course they are actual spiritual athletes who completed Faithfully their leg of the race they ran their race and they finished their course there's no doubt that when things are tough man you want someone who has been through what you are going through to tell you that you can get through it there's just something about it when someone else has gone through it and you know man if they can make it I can make it too now these Heroes of the faith in Hebrews chapter 12 they they made it and and so could we you and I can make it I know we're in challenging times I know we're in volatile times I know we're in chaotic times I know so many of us have been through so much so much trauma and so many trials and so many tribulations but the heroes of the faith they are witnesses they've gone before us they have run their race they have finished their course they have held unto the faith that they've handed the Baton of Faith from one generation to the next they've done it and so can we so the passage starts with the word therefore and of course when you see the word therefore you've got to ask the question what's the question what's it there for now because this text is actually the culmination of an argument that started in in backpack in chapters 10 and chapters 11 and it's a it's a call to perseverance in the faith you know if you and I are going to run our race and if we're going to finish our course in this day in this hour then we're going to learn to endure we're going to have to need to endure at all costs because there are challenges that are coming there are trials that are coming there are tribulations along the way and we will be in need of endurance you're not going to get to the Finish Line If you don't learn to endure we read in Hebrews chapter 10 verses 32 to 36 he writes but I recall the former days when after you were enlightened you endured there's that word a hard struggle with sufferings sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction and sometimes being partners with those so treated for you had compassion with those in prison and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property since you knew that you yourselves had better possession and an abiding one therefore do not throw away your confidence which has a great reward for you have need of endurance there it is again you have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised so the writer then goes on to chapter 11 where he lists the Great Hall of faith and all the heroes of Faith who endured to the end and overcame by faith he includes people like Abel and Enoch and Noah and Abraham and Sarah and Jacob and Joseph and Moses and Rahab and Gideon and Barack and Samson and David and Samuel and the prophets and he mentioned that some were tortured and some suffered and he shows us that faith is not an exemption from trials or hardships or tragedy the very same faith that enables some to escape trouble enables others to endure that exact same trouble so faith and endurance go hand in hand they go together and this is a common theme in the book of Hebrews faith and endurance faith and endurance faith and endurance after all this he then starts chapter 12 and says therefore therefore let us also now that's you and that's me therefore let us also you and me we're going to need to need endurance as well we do not get a pass if you think the Heroes of Faith of old had to endure we don't that's not the same Faith that's been passed on we will have need of endurance too that's that word endurance means the power to withstand pain or hardships now the Greek word for this is means to remain so basically you and I as Jesus followers in the 21st century we need the ability or the strength to continue despite fatigue despite stress or adverse conditions anyone thought of the last few years despite fatigue stress adverse conditions I'd say that is all of us so we need the capacity to Bear up under difficult circumstances now this is not a passive complacency you know like when you're sitting there going I've got to endure a boring lecture or I've got to endure this dinner man with this boring person I'm not talking about that that's like you know I've just got to endure something I'm talking about the kind of endurance scriptures talking about it's it's a hopeful fortitude one that actively resists weariness endurance means to remain under because endurance is built Under Pressure that's where you get endurance and you're going well Christine these last few years I've been under a lot of pressure and I'm saying what a gift from God that we get to build endurance the truth is that we tend to run from any pressure rather than grow through it the minute something is hard we want to run from it but God wants us to grow through it now what happens is we often seek comfort and ease and and we want the path of least resistance we're like man I don't want this to hurt I don't want to be uncomfortable I don't want any pleasure any pressure in my life and we just want to tap out and just go I don't want to do this but you don't build strength and stamina without resistance when you're in a gym if you want to build your way your muscles up you need resistance or you're not going to build anything up so pressure is your friend and not your enemy I know we live in a world that is so anti-pressured but I'm here to tell you pressure is your friend it's not your enemy it's where the character of Christ is formed in you anointing and Authority comes from a place of pressure from the Press from The Squeeze it's it's in the pressure cooker and you and I in this Fallen World in life we're under pressure we're in like a pressure cooker and I've not ever met anyone that thinks it's fun to be under pressure I certainly don't think it's fun but we can only build endurance through resistance it's the only place we can build it so I didn't build my spiritual strength by doing the things that came easy to me but by overcoming the things that I never thought I could overcome so it's not by doing the easy things but actually overcoming the hard things and we have a generation that God is trying to build you in the furnace and to put fire and steel in your spiritual bones so that will only be done under pressure so rather than running from it you can grow through it I I built Endurance by staying faithful to Jesus at times when you know what I I felt overlooked I felt misunderstood I felt misrepresented I felt maligned I felt abandoned or I felt betrayed I felt isolated or or lonely or used or tired or just flat out bored or underutilized but that's the place when you remain faithful at those times that's where you build the muscle you need to be able to carry the weight you're going to carry to do the thing that God has called you to do so you build endurance when you keep going at the point you want to quit I want to say that again we build endurance when we keep going at the point we want to quit we quit when we think it's too hot and God says I can give you the strength to go beyond that point that's where you build endurance when you get to the point that you can bear it you're not enduring at that point you are able to handle it whether it's emotionally whether it's spiritually whether it's physically whether it's psychology you can handle it but God says I want you to build endurance that means oh I'm getting into this Zone now that's the endurance Zone and that's the painful Zone because you can't do that in your own strength you need God's strength thank you for watching and I hope you enjoyed this video make sure you hit the Subscribe button and tap the Bell icon so you're notified every time a new video is posted I hope you'll share your thoughts in the 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Channel: Christine Caine

Views: 21,064

Keywords: Christine Caine, Us Also, Build Faith, Christine Cain, Christine Caine Sermons, Christine Caine Testimony, Christine Caine 2022, Christine Caine 2023, calling, purpose, inspirational story, freedom from sin, Jesus Christ, Christian, Sermons, faith, endurance, strength, connection, Christine Caine elevation church, Christine Caine Bethel, biblical freedom, injustice, free from sin, grace for purpose, Christine Caine passion, Christine Caine dont look back, 32CC, 23CC, 2C3C, C232, CC23

Id: jRN-mJVauMw

Length: 11min 15sec (675 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 10 2023