And so I suppose all of us at some time or another have been frustrated that we've been discouraged
and that we've been tempted to quit we tried hard but we didn't immediately get
the results we expected therefore we declare you know what I tried it didn't work I quit
now who am I talking to out there I tried it didn't work so I quit and the struggles of
life have pilfered the life out of your life and you don't know where to turn
and quite honestly you don't know if faith is worth the risk
you've been disappointed so many times
and you're so very very tired
if that is you I'm sorry
I'm sorry I truly am but I urge you
I urge you with every ounce of energy that I can muster I urge you don't give in to despair
don't the anaconda of hopelessness will squeeze the life out of you don't give in you can't give
up you just can't folks you just can't there's too much at stake there's too much at stake you've got
children you've got grandchildren you've got a legacy you've got friends you got neighbors
and they're needing somebody to rise up in the midst of these difficult days and say
I ain't quitting I ain't quitting others are throwing in the towel but I'm not
Living daily as a disciple of Jesus Christ is not easy in this world
and some days we need god's help just to just to help us to put one foot in front of the other
some days we need God's help to keep praying we need God's help to keep standing
to keep working some days we feel like the only success was that we didn't quit today and some of
you may be tempted to escape a trial by quitting their people are hurt people are frustrated
they're tired they lost their job they've lost loved ones man I got to trust God I gotta trust
God and some of you know you would have lost your mind a long time ago had it not been for God
don't quit make a statement make a stance that I am not going to be moved I am not going to
give up I'm not going to quit as a father I'm not going to quit as a provider I'm not going to quit
as a Christian I'm not going to quit as a believer I'm not going to quit the call of God that's on my
life I'm not going to quit what God's called me to do where my community is concerned
I'm not gonna quit in my in all of my well-doing I'm not gonna quit on the on the gift that God
has given me I am not a quitter I am more than a conqueror and with Jesus Christ
I overcome every temptation to quit so you get yourself up you stop feeling sorry for yourself
as if you're the only one that's ever gone through trouble get up dust all that stuff off of you
hold your head up put your shoulders back
get dressed up if you have to but let the devil know I have an announcement to make there's no
more quit in me there is no more quit in me and you may be going through something and you may
be facing things and the enemies whispering it nobody else has made it nobody else can live it
nobody else can stand nobody else can live like they ought to live so why are you even trying
you ought to make up your mind I'm going to make it I'm not going to quit I'm not going to lay down
and I'm not going to be a statistic I'm going to make it because God is on my side so instead of
thinking about quitting the first thing we got to do is get quitting out of your thought life
you got to stop thinking about quitting and you got to start thinking about what the word has
to say in the midst of quitting you remember what the bible says he says as a man thinketh
uh in his heart so is he so you are in your heart based on what you're thinking about and if you
keep thinking about quitting and that's all you think about is quitting you know what you're going
to develop that on the inside of you and it won't be long before you you start quitting and you
start seeing quitting as the answer but there's nothing better on the other side of quitting
that no condition is too dark no situation is too impossible no problem is so severe that God can't
in a moment in an instant overturn intervene interrupt and reverse the course
of events Abraham and Sarah were old and barren one day then stunned and pregnant the next
Joseph went to sleep one night as a prisoner in Egypt he went to sleep the next night as
the Egyptian prime minister the red sea was uncrossable one minute and a pathway the next
Joshua marched seven times around the city of Jericho after the sixth circle the walls were
still standing but after the seventh they were rubble Goliath defied Israel for forty days
morning and evening belching his boasting in the valley of Ela nobody came until that shepherd
boy showed up and down went the giant the lions wanted to eat Daniel one moment but they couldn't
because in the next moment their mouths were wired shut are you seeing the rhythm
in God's hands no script is predictable no storyline is inevitable no outcome is
certain God is the God of grand reversals and who's to say he doesn't have one in your future
don't let the middle of the story confuse you don't be thrown off don't be thrown off because
you can't see the ending and what you expected to happen has not happened set your eyes on the
author of your salvation listen no person is beyond the influence of God no person no person
is beyond his sovereign hand the scripture says the Lord directs the king's thoughts
he turns them wherever he wants to God is writing history
and God is charge is in charge of history so just keep praying keep trusting
your story's not finished reversals happen but you got to stay in the game
you gotta stay in the game
Do you go to God before you consult or pursue any human effort and that's what God wants he
wants to be first place in your life he wants you to look to him before you give up cave in and quit
and he says if you do I'm going to give you strength and I'm gonna make sure that that that
caving in doesn't take place that quitting does not take place second Corinthians chapter four
II Corinthians 4 16-18 he says that is why we never give up
though our bodies are dying our spirits are being renewed every day I'm not gonna give up next verse
for our present troubles are small and won't last very long yet they produce for us a glory
that vastly outweighs them and will last forever that's a powerful thing that's the
he calls it small things and he says they won't last for long so we don't look at the troubles we
can see now rather we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen for the things we see now will soon
be gone but the things we cannot see will last forever so what do we do
we fix our eyes on the promises of God we fix our eyes on what God is promising in this world
and he says you know what the things you're going through they have an expiration date
they will soon be over and you've got to know that so don't don't quit over something that's
temporary you're quitting over something that's temporary as if things won't change and they will
don't quit God is bigger than your problem because Jesus is with you in your storms as well as when
he is with you on your sunny days and the fact of the matter is you learn things in the midst
of storms or hardships or trials that you will not learn anywhere else better to be in a storm with
Jesus than anywhere else without him so whatever you're going through if you're a Christian
Christ is with you God has a plan for you and know this his plan for you is better than your plan
for yourself so never be afraid to commit an unknown future to a known God you've got to
understand that maturity's got to come somehow and you're not going to mature
when everything's going to always be going great and peachy king and floating on account nobody
nobody matures that way that's just like saying you can go into a weight room without have without
lifting weight and think you're going to develop muscular definition that's not how that works
The thing that we want removed I mean think about the thing you want removed right now from your
life the thing that you want removed is the thing that God has chosen to use the thing that we're
trying to pray away or pray out of our life which is completely understandable is the thing that
until God chooses to remove it that God is using it or to say it a different way the tension in
our lives is it that is at the epicenter of God's activity in our lives the tension in our lives is
the epicenter of God's activity in our lives and I can prove it what are you praying about right
now isn't it true this trial this difficult time that you're going through this thing that you wish
would change it has your undivided attention and this what you're praying about in fact perhaps
you haven't prayed in a long time and suddenly you find yourself praying why because that's
what trials do it exercises our faith and it is the epicenter of what God is up to in our
lives that's why our trials inform our prayers so James says this look don't shortchange the process
don't bail out on the process don't quit the process and don't stop believing because there
is an outcome and here's the outcome he continues he says this let perseverance finish its work
so that you might be mature and complete not lacking anything and he's using a little play
on words here here's what he's saying he's saying let perseverance complete its work
so that you will be complete let perseverance let the process play out let perseverance complete its
work so that you will be complete so that you will have grown up faith and let's face it the only way
to have grown up faith is to face a trial and to experience God's faithfulness in the trial so ask
God to use this until God chooses to remove this now let's look at these scriptures James chapter 1
verse 2 through 4 don't be afraid of trouble don't be afraid of trouble I I mean you think
you know oh I have trouble I must have sinned I must have done something wrong no you you you
need to mature you see God prepares everybody that he calls God doesn't call anybody ready
God doesn't call anybody prepared people have this idea well if God told you to do something
you must be prepared for it no no no God will tell you to do something and then maybe spend
the next four or five years getting you ready for it getting your mentality ready for it
let me give you an illustration you remember the the illustration I gave about the two-year-old
that's walking and he learns how to walk and so he as he as you're learning going through the
process of learning how to walk you know he's going to fall sometime but the parent doesn't
condemn him and say you no good for nothing a little two-year-old you walk you better walk down
I'm going to punish you and then he gets up and he walks a little bit further but he falls again
I tell you what you're going to hell if you fall one more time that's not what happens
each time he falls God is there to pick him up to encourage him come on you can do it pick him up
and come on to it and one day he's walking that's what God does with us you're beating yourself
up because while you were learning how to walk and learning how to be a Christian you fell back
into some stuff and you thought God's gonna get you and God was like come on let me encourage you
come on yeah yeah yeah I know I know yeah yeah I know you got drunk as a skunk last night come on
come on I'm gonna encourage you come on let's walk a little bit more and then you start walking
and then you fell back and did something that's stupid in you and God's like God's not saying
oh you're going to hell he says now come on baby let's keep walking let's keep walking
I'm just training you cause one day you're going to be able to walk without falling
that's what this is about you're not going to be afraid of trouble you are an overcomer
the bible makes it very very clear in things and all these things you're more than conquerors
I'm more than a conqueror through him that loved us when you're more than a conqueror you overcome
you overcome God is with you don't give up don't give up don't give up