For the Long Haul | Bishop Dale C. Bronner | Word of Faith Family Worship Cathedral

this is bishop dale brother thank you so much for joining our youtube channel today if this is a blessing to you i want to encourage you to like it and then click the subscribe button and then turn on notification hit that little notification bell so that you never ever miss another one of our videos and then if you're in the metro atlanta area on a sunday check out one of our exhilarating services at 8 30 a.m 11 a.m or 6 o'clock p.m and all that you really have time to do because you see an 18 wheeler coming down the road you're in a dangerous situation you don't have time to go through form and formality anybody ever been there when something hits you and you are so dumbfounded so stunned by it that all that you can do is call on the name of the lord you don't have time to go our father the one who sits high and looks low but you begin to call on that name that is above every name you don't even have time to do that because sometimes things are coming at you so fast as life is buffeting you one blow after another and all that you have time to do is call the name jesus and i'm telling you in a moment of time when you don't have time to say anything else you don't have time to go in his hebrew name and greek name and el shaddai but all that you do know is the name jesus and i'm telling you there's power power wonder working power my god i'm telling you that name that name invokes his presence in a way that is inexplicable i don't know how to explain how he responds to it but there's something about your calling that name when you don't know anything else to do that summons the presence of god into your situation in a divine way like nobody's business and i don't know who this is for today i'm glad that i am free to flow in the prophetic and all that i can tell you is that god has not forgotten about you [Music] though things have been delayed it may look grim to you and some of you've lost your hope and you're wondering god what's up i've already made my new god i'm waiting on you now what you're doing anytime now would be okay with me and we forget that god doesn't wear a watch [Music] he doesn't live in time before time existed god was and he is and he shall be he's the one who was and he is and is to come and i just want you to know that this wonderful king of glory that we serve when you just like mary and martha are coming to jesus and saying jesus had you been here had you shown up when i call you my brother wouldn't have died my business wouldn't have gone under my book would have made it my record would have been successful my marriage would have worked healing would have been consummated but let me just remind you that what you're waiting on that you're blaming him for jesus is really saying there's no need to be in a rush it's not dead it's just sleep sleep means that it is able to be recovered [Music] and jesus knew that he was going to wake him up because here's where mary and martha missed it jesus said you're going to see your brother again they say yeah yeah i know about the resurrection but they understood the resurrection to be an event [Music] but the resurrection is a person jesus said you're looking more vegas you're looking at what you're waiting on it is not that if you get this you'll get that but he says get this get this the resurrection jesus said i am the resurrection and the life and if any man liveth and believeth in me he'll never die and if any man is already dead he shall live jesus is saying it's not about the event that you're waiting to happen jesus says get your eyes on me look at me i'm the one that will speak and cause your dreams to live i'll speak in every prophetic word will rise up and stand that attention and things that were not in existence god says i'll call the money in i'll call the people in i'll call the help in i'll call the partners in i'll call the deal in i'll call the bankers in i'll give you approval i'll give you my favor i don't know who i'm talking to but god says i've got everything that you need you are not waiting on a pie on an event you're waiting on a person his name is jesus hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah [Music] well that's just your appetizer today sometimes i'm going to restaurants and sometimes the appetizer was better than the meal and have you ever been to a restaurant and you really wanted the appetizer as your entree my god i'm so glad that our scriptural lesson today is coming from saint john chapter 15 verses 4 through 11 notice there in the new living translation the word of the lord jesus is speaking here he says remain in me and i will remain in you for a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from divine and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me yes i am the vine and you are the branches those who remain in me and i in them will produce much fruit for apart from me you can do nothing [Music] anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned but if you remain in me and my words remain in you you may ask for anything you want and it will be granted and when you produce much fruit you are my true disciples this brings great glory to my father i have loved you even as the father has loved me remain in my love when you obey my commandments you remain in my love just as i obey my father's commandments and remain in his love i have told you these things so that you will be filled with joy yes your joy will overflow i'm talking today from the subject for the long haul for the long haul for the long haul here i want you to understand that jesus is actually challenging his followers to remain in him to remain connected to him and sometimes i've watched the poor uh manifestation of a person's life still looking as though it is fruitful because it was connected at one time but then it gets disconnected and sometimes even though disconnected it can still bear fruit for a season but if you're severed for any length of time and the roots are disconnected from from the soil it will no longer produce fruit so you can't tell immediately sometimes it's weak sometimes it's month sometimes it may even be years there's so much life in jesus that you can be so connected to him that when a person becomes disconnected they can still have the appearance as though there is life there but yet they have been disconnected and so sometimes jesus is just uh challenging his his followers to remain in me he's saying i am the vine i'm the trunk of the tree you're the branches he's saying stay connected to me stay connected to me and and here's the reason that jesus is giving this message this is not just something out of the blue because in in saint john chapter 6 i almost like to call it the demonic verse because it's saint john chapter 6 and verse 66 jesus had talked about uh except you eat my flesh and drink my blood you have no part of me but in john 6 66 uh it says that he turned to his disciples and his disciples the bible there says that many of his disciples walked no more with him they went back and walked no more with him they didn't remain because it got tough because they had not counted the cost of discipleship you have to understand jesus was not just a person that set up a little church along the side of the road jesus was radical and everything that he did because he was about establishing a heavenly kingdom got political folks upset and uneasy and then it got religious folks the pharisees the scribes the essenes it got all of the the jewish systems upset and discombobulated he he shook up the status quo so everything that was a status an organized system was shaken up because jesus came preaching the gospel of the kingdom he didn't just come preaching love a lot of people misunderstand what jesus came preaching he didn't just come preaching love jesus came preaching the gospel of the kingdom this is about the rule and reign of the lord jesus christ from heaven on the earth when it says the kingdom of god that tells you whose kingdom it is when it says the kingdom of heaven it lets you know where it is from so jesus is coming as an ambassador from another dimension and he's preaching the gospel of the kingdom that is a different way of doing things than what they have heard jesus said you understand by the law that uh if somebody asked you to go a mile you know with them but jesus said i said go with them too and he said that somebody slaps you on one cheek jesus said no i said offered them the other one the law had said an eye for an eye on a tooth for two jesus no no no i'm coming with something higher than that deeper than that and so jesus brought us a different way he's bringing he's preaching the gospel of the kingdom and i want you to understand this the gospel of the kingdom comes by demonstration and so he says when you see the blind healed the lame walk the dead rays this becomes evidence that the gospel of the kingdom is at hand this is a manifestation that the kingdom a new kingdom had come so jesus is preaching a radically different kind of a gospel and people are upset about it and so you have to risk your life to really follow this thing and so jesus said i'm coming with some stuff i might sound sweet and and nice and like a meek little lamb but he was a roaring lion the lion of the tribe of judah and now he's saying i want you to stay connected with me because it's going to get rough we're going to go through some persecution there going to be some dark days with me and jesus was like can you rock with me can you roll with me are you going to be my ride or die chick he said i'm looking for a bride better get on the back and not be asking me where we going and are we there yet but that can just trust me that'll lean with me when we get on a curve i don't need anybody that's going to pull away from me he said i need somebody that knows how to lean with me jesus is saying abide in me stay connected with me he said i want you to stay hooked up to me because where we're going i'm going to need you to stay connected and i want you to understand this this connectedness this connectedness is about our union with jesus christ it is not merely just about being christ-like christ's likeness is a by-product of being connected to him that's the byproduct the real identity is to be in him to be connected to him jesus said i am the vine you are the branches stay connected this is about being connected for the long haul don't let accusation don't let persecutions don't let uh trouble don't let that stuff get you off the ship don't let it get you out of fellowship with him this is about union with jesus christ because jesus is the vine we are the branches and there's always a cost of discipleship it's not cheap this is not a cheap grace following jesus cost us a re-prioritization of everything it costs you a re-prioritization of everything in your life your relationships i mean this is a spousal relationship your business relationships your your neighborhood relationships this is about relationships it's a re-prioritization with your relationships it's a re-prioritization with what you value it's a re-prioritization with what you do with money it's a re-prioritization of how you do your job this is a re-prioritization of how you relate to people in your life and it is a re-prioritization of how you serve how you treat others jesus comes and he reprioritizes your life your priorities shift and change when jesus comes into the plane when you get in in connection with him you abide in the vine when you're connected to him i want you to notice what jesus said in matthew chapter 16 verse 24 notice this then jesus said to his disciples if anyone desires to be my disciple let him deny himself disregard lose sight of and forget himself and his own interests and take up his cross and follow me cleave steadfastly to me conform wholly to my example in living and if need be in dying also jesus jesus is not playing here he's saying if anybody desires to be my disciple you know as people have gotten popular now they said oh yes i'm a christ follower well if you are a christ follower if you are a disciple and i like the word disciple because the word disciple actually means learner learner you learn his ways you learn his attitudes you learn his habits you learn his mannerisms that's why when you're connected to him just by being around him you're learning you're learning you're learning he's saying keep your eyes open because you're catching something you're catching something everything that that jesus taught was not in a parable some of it was in how he walked and how he treated people and how he had compassion on people and you have to just watch and see what he does and and then you'd pick up the mannerisms of jesus that when somebody accused him that jesus didn't lose his temple and cuss them out you know it's about learning how to abide in him and learning how to deny yourself one of the other gospel writers when he was talking about this this verse here he talked about if if you want to be my disciple that you have to deny yourself and take up your cross daily you know repentance is a daily thing you have to die every day you have to get on the cross every day you have to crucify your flesh every day you have to crucify your tongue every day this is not just a thing to say but all you know back in 1938 i that's i gave my heart to the lord jesus christ no no no no this is an onward going thing this is a daily crucifixion that when you rise up every day you have to say that you know what if my marriage is going to live it's going to live because i go to the cross today i go to the cross today i go to the cross today on my job when as i as as i serve in government i go to the cross today i die i die let him deny himself it didn't say indulge yourself it didn't say just buffet yourself it says let him deny deny deny himself they do know this in the bible i know that it's not popular right now because we love to aggrandize the flesh but jesus said if you're going to be my disciple you're going to have to say deny your no if you're going to walk in discipline if you're going to walk in excellent if you're going to reach the mark i know you want i know you want double macaroni and cheese and that's your two vegetables [Applause] but he's just saying you got to you can't eat all you want you can't eat all you want you have to deny yourself you have to deny yourself you can't say everything you you feel you have to deny yourself you have to deny yourself people have no filter they eat everything it's all you can eat it's all you can say where's your filter jesus you see people and they make that old nature want to come up in you you're going to be my follower let him deny himself look at what he said in matthew 16 verse 25 for whoever would save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it you'll be surprised how much peace that you can have when you don't say everything you feel you can't say everything you think it's not healthy do you know it is a superpower not having to cave in and say everything that you feel and think that's a superpower you'll be surprised now i know that they think that you do need to get out i'm not talking about repressing things that that can bring liberty to your life i'm not talking about that but i'm just talking about folks that that that won't deny themselves in a way that allows them to reveal that connectedness to jesus you know when they con you know accuse jesus the bible says he opened not his mouth he was like a sheep that was dumb before the shearer he didn't try to say hey i didn't do that but you ah jesus denied himself something must be shh had he spoken up and tried to defend himself he would have stopped god's will from being done you don't never know there's just sometimes just just jesus saw and had a greater understanding of god's will and so when you understand the bigger picture it's easier to deny yourself because i i'm denying myself here because i'm working on something are you listening you have to have the big picture in mind that i i'm working on some that's why i deny myself because i'm i'm working on something i'm walking somewhere i'm connected to somebody when you're connected to somebody and you represent somebody else you can't say everything you want to see you can't do everything that you want to do you can't go everywhere that you want to go and jesus said you know some people thought that's denying myself that's why should i have to deny myself we want to be a follower of jesus if if you would save your life and it's interesting that the greek word here save your life it is the word translated as life here is the word suke it's saving your soul and there's some people trying to save their soul their mind that suitcase and they end up losing it trying to preserve it and jesus said listen if you lose it if you lose your way of thinking and gain my way of thinking that's when you'll have life that's when you'll have peace if you'll do it my way it won't give you consternation on the inside if you'll do it my way if you'll do it my way and that's very interesting here that he's he's letting them know that if you if you just do it my way if you're just hanging there you can get through this but i want you to be with me jesus was saying for the long haul this is not a fly by night this is not a a fad this this is not just a another movement that's a passing thing in christianity this jesus said i want you to walk with me for the long haul be connected with me for life he's like we're connected now for life notice mark 13 13. jesus was letting him know and you will be hated by all for my name's sake but the one endures to the end the one who endures to the end is going to be saying the one who endures to the end will be saved the one who endures to the end is going to be saved he says you're going to be you're going to have to go through some things for uh on account of me and see the disc comfort that that we have to endure is absolutely nothing to compare with the glory that awaits us in the future there's something greater that awaits us uh paul talked about it at writing to the church at rome in romans chapter 8 and verse 18 in the phillips translation notice what it says in my opinion whatever we may have to go through now is less than nothing compared with the magnificent future that god has planned for us i mean what we've got to go through now he's saying he said this is nothing compared with the magnificent future that god has planned for us and here's what people miss it they like all of kind of stuff that's extreme and intense they they like it that's why they like retaliate reality shows with people fighting and scratching each other's eyeballs out and snatching their weave out and fighting like cats and they love that because the intensity of it just we have an adrenaline rush for stuff when we see people doing crazy stuff that it makes us junkies for that stuff because intensity intensity makes a great story but consistency makes progress consistency makes progress jesus said if you'll walk with me deny yourself take up your cross daily and follow me consistently consistently consistently stay connected with me we're in this for the long haul if we'll do this consistently consistency builds progress consistency builds progress consistency builds progress you go out to putt-putt golf and be a beginner and you know and and get a hole-in-one and it's beginner's luck but the difference between an amateur and a pro is one word consistency the pro knows how to hit it consistently the amateur lucks up and does it but he can't duplicate it because it doesn't know what he did to bring about that result and so intensity gives us such a sensational story but consistency builds progress consistency builds progress and yes i know that it's really hard to be consistent in fact i would say to this degree it's a sacrifice to be consistent present your body as a living sacrifice just consistently consistently i want you to understand this point sacrifice improves the future sacrifice improves the future i don't care what it is if you sacrifice with the discipline and what you do with your money in terms of your spending budget if you exercise and sacrifice in your budget it'll improve your future if you sacrifice and study it will improve your future if you sacrifice and work on your marriage it will improve your future if you work on your skills sacrifice to do that it will improve your future i know you already go to work every day and you work on a job that you may not be passionate about but then if you come home and sacrifice and work on what your real god call is and sacrifice are you listening it will improve your future because sacrifice always improves your future sacrifice always improves your future sacrifice always improves your future sacrifice always improves your future that's why jesus said you're going to follow me be my disciple deny yourself take up your cross and follow me it's a sacrifice to do that but sacrifice always improves your future sacrifice always improves your future and let me just say that when things don't seem right in your life check to see whether or not you're still connected to the source when you get frustrated easily angered check to see whether or not you're still connected to the source check to see whether or not you're still connected to the source i mean for 10 years i've worked in information systems as a manager there and uh every now and then back in those days we would have these big expensive mainframe systems and when i would have a problem that was above my pay grade i'd have to call ibm and it would be insulting because i'd already done this for years and i would get there and and the person would would say to me have you checked to make sure that the computer is plugged in and i'm saying in the back of my mind what kind of dumps do you think i am i didn't just start doing this i've been doing this a while now you're asking me that is the machine plugged in i came to find out that on a large percentage of their calls people are saying my screen is totally black i can't get it to turn on the thing was somebody had pulled it out of the plug it wasn't plugged into this power source and people will have stuff going wrong in their life and they'll wonder what's wrong and jesus said you know abide in the vine abide in me stay plugged in all the time stay plugged into me so you won't lose your power stay plugged into me so you won't lose your power stay plugged into me so you don't lose your power you got to plug in to me so you don't lose your power always check to see whether or not you are plugged in to the power source check to see whether you're plugged in to the power source whenever you feel frustrated whenever you feel inadequate just check to see whether or not you're plugged in to the power source of his presence because you may be disconnected from his presence notice what psalm 16 11 says you will show me the path of life in your presence is fullness of joy and at your right hand are pleasures forevermore so if you are irritable and frustrated all the time check to see whether you're still plugged into his presence because when you get in god's presence that there's a certain kind of peace and calm that comes over you an ability that that helps you to be able to deny yourself because you're plugged into the power source you can't do that on your own stream but when you're connected to the one who epitomize self-sacrifice it empowers you then you become strengthened empowered as a result of that let me just remind you that our walk of faith with jesus christ is not a sprint but it's a marathon with hurdles this is not a sprint this is a marathon with hurdles and curves i want you to notice what jesus said uh the scripture the acts of the writer of the book of hebrews in reference to jesus hebrews chapter 12 verse 1 and 2 notice this therefore since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith let us strip off every weight that slows us down especially the sin that so easily trips us up now notice it'll either slow you down or trip you up and let us run with endurance word patience means endurance in it for the long haul the race that god has set before us we do this by keeping our eyes on jesus not on the competition the champion who initiates and perfects our faith because of the joy awaiting him he endured the cross disregarding its shame now he's seated in the place of honor beside god's throne because he sacrificed and it improved his future and i want you to notice that it's not only sin that slows us down and trips us up but it's also weights just waits i mean there is nothing more that will slow you down than extra weight i i mean my wife and i were looking at this you know the series on my 600 pound life you can imagine i mean some of these folks were over 600 pounds when they were able to walk they couldn't walk very fast because weight will slow you it'll slow you down there are a lot of people that ride around in their automobiles with too much junk in the trunk and they don't realize that they're carrying extra weight it causes you to burn more fuel and you're just riding right it's not that you're taking it somewhere you just hadn't bro you just hadn't emptied the weight out of your trunk and you're carrying it around burning extra gas because weight requires energy to move it and to pull it and can you imagine your commute to work and back home every day with extra stuff in the car that you didn't need for the journey you're burning more gas save your fuel lay aside the weight and the sin lay aside the weight lay aside the weight lay aside the weight you'd be surprised how much lighter you feel when you lose weight when you've been overweight it takes energy and effort to move that it's it's it's murder on your joints on your knees and your hips and your ankles it's murder on your back but when you lighten the load when you lay aside the the weight it it it moves you and see uh remember we're not just talking about physical weight sometimes this weight are people that are drainers in your life just drainers have you thought about uh the weights that's in your life you thought about that lately the weights that's in your life i mean people who constantly need something from you excess video gaming excess social media uh reliving your past failures all of these uh these are weights worrying it's just excessive stress a poor self image is it's a weight negative thinking or wrong thinking that's uh it's a weight let us lay aside the the weight it's not just sin that messes you up it's just weight it's the weight of what happened to you as a little girl it's the weight of what happened to you as a little boy it's the abuse it's the abandonment it's the molestation it's the rejection it's the comparison it's a weight always trying to live up to somebody else's expectation of you jesus said come in and learn of me my yoke is easy my burden is light i'm not going to put all of that extra stuff on you for you to try to do he says just die to yourself just doubt yourself and see we are encouraged to run the race that god has set before us with endurance i want you to notice in first peter chapter 2 verse 19 god will bless you for this if you endure the pain of undeserved suffering because you are cautious of his will notice that you can endure the suffering if you're conscious of god's will if you just know why i'm going through this you will be surprised if you understand that there's glory on the other side of this that god is preparing me this is to prepare me for something in my future here god's god's working on something in my life god's building a stamina in me he's building a strength of character in me if you understand that what i'm going through right now in this moment that everything that i went through in my childhood was to prepare me so i wouldn't be a wimp as an adult when challenges of life that come with you that are not going to treat you like a little spoiled brat it's going to come at you full force and he said i'll let you go through that so you can handle this because now when you went through that as a as a child now you think that somebody's going to ruin your day because you walk in and they don't speak to you and you've already been abused and you've already come through hell in high water and you've already had to put cardboards in your shoes just because of the holes that were there and now you think that somebody talking about how your hair is is gonna jack your day up is that the best shot that you've got let me give you a definition for endurance because we're talking about for the long haul endurance is the power to embrace an unpleasant or difficult process or situation without giving up it's not deep it's simple i screenshot it so you can get it it's the power to embrace an unpleasant or difficult process or situation without giving up it's almost gonna be undifficult and you know i mean endurance endurance you know because you you'll be there and you'll be like you know something you have this but endurance is the power to embrace the unpleasantness of that moment or the unpleasantness of some undeserved suffering uh or a difficult process it's it's hard when it's unpleasant to do that but you have to when you endure it it's it's it's approaching it without giving up it's being empowered to embrace it as a part of the process because it equips you for something you see when we run with endurance you're looking away from everything that is distracting us and then you're focusing your eyes on jesus who is the author of your faith and the finisher of it he's the one that brought it into manifestation he offered it and he's the one that fulfills it he's the perfecter of it he's the one that matures it he gave it to us looking under jesus it means that we are looking away from every distraction looking under jesus looking under jesus looking unto jesus jesus endured this thing by fixing his eyes on the will of god that was already set before him he understood something he was he for the joy that was set before him his eyes were set on something already jesus eyes were set on something let me give you just a few tips of some things that improve our endurance prayer prayer prayer you know why because prayer can help you to understand the will of god in light of the big picture prayer it helps you to understand the will of god you know when you pray through it's until you get a peace in that thing realizing that god's got me even though this press process is difficult even though this thing is just very uncomfortable prayer prayer it improves your endurance here's another thing eating healthily there are certain ingredients and nutrients that actually nourish the body so that you actually have greater stamina staying power greater endurance when you nourish your body with the right type of nutrients it gives you better endurance better endurance regular exercise builds your endurance it builds your i mean if you're going to run a marathon you need to start running and start with one mile and then two but do it regularly do it regularly and start increasing it little by little regular exercise improves our uh endurance here's another thing a good night's sleep a good night's sleep if you become sleep deprived it it it messes up your your your endurance tiredness makes a coward of most people you get tired you just don't want to you don't want to do it you you lay down anywhere a good night's sleep improves your endurance here's another thing a good coach you get a good coach i mean they're going to push you when you would quit on yourself but you know i mean i i mean i almost fired a coach one time because i had him working with me and you know and i'm paying him to agonize me and i'm already shaking the night now come on give me five more and then they'll push it out there come on four more you know i would not have done the extra five had the coach not been there trust me sometimes you just need a good coach here's another thing that can improve your endurance is a running buddy get somebody to walk the journey with you don't do it alone don't do it alone don't do it alone sometimes it may be your wife maybe your husband it may be your best friend don't don't do it alone you know i started the ministry i started with with my with my wife she's my my ride-or-die partner and i needed help in the earlier days that i had my wife you know working as in in accounting and had she not been my wife i would have fired her because she got a year behind a year not two weeks a year and then i had to hire somebody but you know in the early days you're not you're not able to afford to have the help you need and so you just whoever is available to you come in here boy come on come on in here girl you just need help whether they went to school for that or not she didn't go to school for that but when you're building something you need help from any source you can get it you just sometimes need a running budget come on do this with me uh it is a proven fact that geese can fly 75 farther in formation with other geese than they can alone you'll be surprised just getting a running buddy just a a running butt in your neighborhood get a get a walking buddy just somebody else because they're going to be some days it's going to be cold out there but if you got another buddy that's that's going to be be dependent on on you being up and ready it'll push you sometimes you're walking but it might be a dog and you put a leash on them and they got to go out in the morning when you got an indoor dog and so you may as well get a get a walk-in but it'll help your endurance here's another thing a targeted goal a targeted goal you set a goal and and somehow goals have pulling power because they cause us to focus and they improve your endurance because if you know that i'm trying to do 20 of these today you start off trying to do push-ups you do 10 and then if you have a goal to do 20 just that goal can cause your endurance to improve and here's what i want you to get that the essence of what empowers us to endure is to see the end the end from the beginning hence you have the end door you see the end from the beginning see the end from the beginning that's how god works god always sees the end from the beginning he sees the end from the beginning and let me just remind you of this satan is tempting us by always offering us what is temporal while god is helping us to work on that which is eternal god's focus for us is always eternal and i just want to encourage you that whenever you feel like giving up jesus said remain connected to me stay and me abide in me be in this thing for the long haul with me whenever you feel like giving up and let me let me just tell you from personal experience anybody that has ever done anything worth doing was tempted to give up and let me let me just remind you of this giving up is nothing more than a temptation and the same way that you talk yourself into giving up you can talk yourself into not giving up are you listening so whenever you get to that place that you're tempted to quit here's a strategy look at your why look at your why look at your why you didn't give yourself the vision you didn't give yourself the dream you didn't give yourself the calling look at the why look at the why look at the why look at the why look at the why look at the why the why will push you when you don't feel like going the why will pull you when you're dragging the why will empower you to endure when you feel like quitting and the why will help you to get back up when you've stumbled and fallen you get back up because somebody else believed in you because somebody made an investment because somebody prayed for you because somebody is dependent upon you i can't tell you the number of mothers and fathers that get up and go to work and do things that they don't even like to do because they got a why over there in the bed that i'm not doing this for myself i've got to get out and do this because there's somebody else who's dependent on me somebody's depending look at your why look at your why it'll push you your why will pull you your why will give you staying power your why will help you to get back up if you've made a mistake if you fail your why would not let you just wallow there i understand that there are evil people in the world and sometimes life will hit you with blows that will knock you down jesus stumble and fail with his cross don't be shocked if you fall with yours but he didn't stay there and you're not at fault for falling down but if i come by three hours later and you're still there i'm gonna start looking at you side if i come by next week and you still on the ground if i see you three months from now and you're still wallowing because somebody knock you down if i see you three years down the road and you're still wallowing making excuses it is your fault you need to reconnect to your source so you become empowered by your why why did you start to begin with every time that you attempted to quit remember why you started every time you attempted to quit remember why you started every time you get ready to walk out on the relationship remember why you started and just remember that every day every day every day you gotta it's a sacrifice that will improve your future it is a sacrifice that will improve your future it is a sacrifice that will improve your future i'm just telling you the right of hebrews said in hebrews 10 35 so do not throw away your confident trust in the lord remember the great reward it brings you patient endurance is what you need now so that you will continue to do god's will you need patient endurance he says you need endurance so that you'll continue to do god's will then you will receive all that he has promised but you can't get the promise the promise is only after you've done the will of god after you've done the will of god then you shall inherit the promise that's his word hebrews 10 36 and you're going to need endurance to finish your course james chapter 1 verse 12 reminds us that god blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation the thing about testing and temptation every test is temporary every temptation is temporary god blesses those who patiently endure it how can you endure it because it's passing it won't last forever afterward they will receive the crown of life that god has promised to those who love him [Music] because quitting is just a temptation don't give in to it don't give in to it talk yourself out of quitting and every time that you feel like quitting look to jesus who despising the shame while he was on the quarrels endured looking looking jesus was looking to something else he wasn't looking at where he was and what he was going through looking to the joy he was looking on the other side of that he was looking at the end of it already from the beginning he was looking at the end jesus was looking at the end from the beginning he was already seeing himself in glory sitting at the right hand of the father he was already seeing himself on the other side of this he was already seeing himself operating in the vision that god had already shown everything that he had been prepared for for the foundation of the earth he was looking at it the end of it from the beginning and when you look at jesus it'll awaken something in you that will become relentless and tenacious when you look at jesus my god it will awaken the champion on the inside of you when you look to him when you abide in him when you realize that i'm in this for the long haul even when it gets difficult and when people begin to talk about you because some of this stuff that they're saying is christianity is really not christianity it's too convenient it's too sweet it's too easy the kind of christianity that jesus talks about will cause people that don't know him to hate on you to say all kind of i'm evil against you and to work against you you'll walk into places and folks won't even like you and you'll be saying i didn't even do anything to them this is not about you it's about who you represent it's about who you are connected to it's something about it that you go into a place and people won't like you and you don't even understand it and it has to do with the fact that their demons don't like the christ in you and whenever whenever whenever jesus steps into the room with a demon they recognize yes they do and you're walking and minding your own business but when you're connected to the vine the spirit of jesus in you makes their demons uncomfortable anybody know what i'm talking about [Music] and this is why i declare that we have to have a resolve in our own hearts and spirits to be just like the apostle paul who said in ii timothy 4 7 i fought a good fight i have finished the race if you finish a race trust me you will be tempted to quit because you will get tired and you'll get thirsty and you'll be dehydrated and sometimes you'll get dizzy and sometimes you'll get cramps and nobody ever talks about that sometimes your feet will hurt and your ankle will turn over [Music] but he says i have fought a good fight i have finished the race i have kept the faith you do that by abiding in the vine and i just encourage you today [Music] don't let persecution difficulty uproot you from your christian faith don't let challenge [Music] and unpopular or i should say popular themes in the culture that are antithetic to the bible into the way of jesus don't let that cause you to quit we have to be determined that we're going to be in this thing for the long haul it's not popular today to say that you're going to follow jesus [Music] and deny yourself and take up your cross because the world keeps giving you this message that you deserve this and you deserve that and you deserve the other but until you sacrifice you don't improve your future you got to go to that cross every day repentance is a daily process it's a process it is a consistency that brings progress that helps you to stay in right standing with jesus christ every day there's some stuff out there that's draining your energy and jesus said you need to plug back into me stay connected to me so your power doesn't run low you got to stay connected there are people that go dark because they haven't been in his presence and he's just saying abide in me because when jesus challenged them to eat his fresh and they drink his blood the bible says many many of his disciples many of his disciples john 6 and verse 66 many of his disciples turned back and walked no more with him many many not just a few many and then he turns to some of them and says well you will you leave me also and they said master where we're going you have the words of eternal life what can we get this better than you when you have tasted and seen all taste and see there's something about putting his word in your mouth that opens your eyes that's why we meditate on it that's why we think about him that's why you have to be determined that i don't care if my sunday school teacher goes to hell i'm not going behind them if your grandmama your granddaddy i mean you can love them but you know that's what we part ways when you leave now on the road to hell and if i'm trying to tell you of a savior and you understand which direction he is we live in a world where our kingdom of our god is in conflict with the kingdom of the world and if you're not in conflict you must not be in connection because to connect with christ puts you in conflict with the world and he who is a friend of the world is that enmity with god and he's just saying i'm looking for my ride or die folks that's in this for the long haul that when they talk about us and persecute us and call us all kind of names and lame and jesus freaks and goody two shoes and righteousness and say what you will say what you will i'm in it for the for the long haul and every time they say things to us that are unkind and mean-spirited we come back to that cross take our cross jesus told him you take your cross and i want you to understand jesus gave these directives before he ever went to the cross [Music] jesus said if anybody will be my disciple and follow me they must take up their cross and follow me daily this is a daily walk jesus said those words before he went to the cross before he took up his cross he said you got to take up your words because there's a cost of discipleship and if you think that you make it to heaven by cheap grace you don't understand the cost of his blood there's nothing cheap about it it cost him everything not something it cost him everything and now he challenges us so jesus always with his real true followers says follow me let's do this for the long haul and he's saying other folks became destabilizing their faith and abandoned the faith but he says i want you to hold on and abide in me stay in me let my words stay in you and you'll have life and bear much fruit and hearing is my father glorified that you bear much fruit i pray that you've gotten something out of the word of the lord today i rather do hallelujah to the lamb of god hallelujah hallelujah bow your heads for just a moment those of you that are joining us through the live stream jesus loves you right where you are i know it seems easy to just pray a prayer and accept jesus christ to come into your heart that is a simple part but the real challenge is the daily commitment this is not just a cheap thing to say that you can just pray a prayer and you never have to do anything else jesus said no no no you're gonna love me you keep my commandments there's an obedience and you can't even obey unless you die to yourself obedience is sacrifice it causes you to sacrifice your will and your way jesus is inviting you to a sacrifice a sacrifice a sacrifice blood body that's sacrifice they're called sacraments because it's about sacrificing sacrifice [Music] it's performing the sacred sacrifices and he's calling you to sacrifice your will and your way and to surrender your life to jesus and if you realize that you've not surrendered your life to jesus this is not a one-time thing you do it every day the way you say lord i give you my life today i doubted my flesh to my own will my own way so that you can live in me [Music] and if you need to receive him wherever you are this simple prayer will do it dear father i acknowledge that i have missed the mark i know that you died for me and pray paid and huge price for my life you gave your all so that i could have you and eternal life and today i open my heart and accept you to come in and live in me transform me give me a love for your word [Music] for attendance in your house and for fellowship with other believers [Music] use my testimony to tell everyone i meet about you [Music] and may i grow a new day by day jesus name amen if you pray that in the earnestness of your hearts you're on a journey now tomorrow you renew your commitment to him his mercies are made new to you every single day it's not that once you can pray that little prayer and then you go and live any kind of way that you want to live jesus said no no stay connected to me let my words abide in you you abide in my words let my word abide in you because it'll transform your life this is a process it says this is not about the exciting thing about intensity about somebody laying hands and something powerful happens that's that's a catalyst but the real development comes in a day-to-day walking with jesus praying searching the scriptures and allowing god to so gradually transform you that only people who haven't encountered you in a while will then see you over a period of time and and say hey something's different about you and the secret of that the secret sauce is in what you're doing every day with jesus taking up your cross daily dying it is the real cost of discipleship there is no such a thing as a salvation that costs you nothing it'll cost you everything that you've got but it'll give you everything that he's got [Music] we hope that you enjoyed that message don't forget to like and subscribe and then press the notification bell so that you don't miss another one of our videos and if you want to partner with us click the give now button thank you for what you do we hope that you enjoyed that message don't forget to like and subscribe and then press the notification bell so that you don't miss another one of our videos and if you want to partner with us click the give now button thank you for what you do

Channel: woffamily

Views: 62,228

Rating: 4.8876405 out of 5

Keywords: Bishop Dale C. Bronner, Word of Faith Family Worship Cathedral, Church, Sermon, Encouragement, Hope, Message

Id: u5kknY1LY0s

Length: 63min 43sec (3823 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 07 2021