<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Siegfried Roeske

Enduring Unto the End

Pleasure to be at Advent Hope again this beautiful Sabbath morning.

We had an inspiring and stimulating Sabbath school discussion.

And our thoughts this morning are kind of building on it.

When I prepared the sermon, I hadn't come to this week yet, and I discovered that we're kind of running in similar veins.

We're going to reinforce some of the things we studied in our lesson.

I had the old Dunkard Baptist joining the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, And I was amazed how he prayed.

We had him, you know, included in our service, and he was in his 80s, a fine Christian gentleman.

And he would pray, Lord, help us over the uneven journey of life.

I thought, kind of poetic, and I saw a plowed field when he prayed.

And how the furrows were kind of, you know, like waves on the sea, a little bit up and down.

Sometimes we experience periods of joy, excitement, ecstasy.

Other times, we have to endure seasons of drought, hardship, disappointments, loneliness.

Even in the Christian life, everyone has these seasons.

They not only break up the monotony of sameness, But I believe they're necessary for growth and for productivity.

Non-stop sunshine produced the Mojave Desert.

We may not enjoy the storms and the rain, but they're an essential part of a complete life.

And the key to victory comes in finding a way how to weather the storms of life so that they do not undermine and destroy our faith in God.

Satan is going about like a roaring lion, especially as we come to the close of time.

Perhaps you remember his story in the Calgary Winter Olympics.

Well, February 14, Valentine's Day, 1988, was the worst day of his life.

In the morning, he spoke to his older sister, Jane, who was dying of leukemia, back home in Wisconsin.

A few hours later, the speed skater had learned that his dear sister had passed away.

So he spent the afternoon in a quiet room in the Olympic Athletes Village in Calgary, speaking on the phone to family members.

Then remember, came the 500 meter sprint.

He felt that that's what Jane would want him to do.

But emotionally, physically, he was very tense.

Janson, who was 1 of the favorites, came around the first turn on the ice, his blade caught, and he went down, skating across the ice, knocking down the other skater that was paired with him.

The world sympathized with this dear athlete, and among the thousands of letters of condolences received after the death of his sister was 1 from Mark Arrowhead, who had won the gold medal in the Special Olympics.

Arrowhead enclosed his gold medal in the letter he sent to Dan Janssen.

And you remember the Keller Company placed this picture on more than 10 million boxes of cornflakes after he won the gold in 1994.

Now the Lord does not always remove and prevent difficulties and disappointments from our lives, but He promises, and by His grace and by His miracle-working power, He promises to make them stepping stones for our own character development and uses them to glorify His name through us.

For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth.

I'm sorry, I meant to go to 22, I meant to go to 23.

The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way.

Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand." And then the text that our good teacher used in our Sabbath school lesson in Proverbs 24 16, for a just man shall fall 7 times.

You know Peter asked how often to forgive?

No, 70 times 7 and God certainly is willing to do the same.

Now 1 of the biblical symbols of this process of pain producing victory with God's grace is pearl.

A pearl is formed within an oyster which has experienced distress of a foreign particle of sand getting stuck within its shell.

Pearl represents God's purposes and the eternally valuable change that God works within us in the place of hardship.

And there's nothing else that changes us quite so readily and effectively in our walk with God than does grueling hardship.

The longer the distress, the more valuable the pearl.

In Malachi 3, verses 2 and 3, it says, God shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and He shall purify the sons of Levi, I think that's you and me, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering of righteousness.

I think that's our Christian life, is the offering that through His grace we present and glorifies God.

And it's our faith and our confidence in God's love that makes us willing to endure those hardships with joy.

From the book Upward Look, page 65, we read this.

Our Heavenly Father does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men.

He has His purpose In the whirlwind and in the storm, in the fire and in the flood, the Lord permits calamities to come to his people to save them from greater dangers.

And Jesus in Matthew 24 13 gives the answer as to how the Christian ought to relate to the leaning of God, may it be through water through fire, especially as we face the difficulties of the last days.

1 short sentence, Matthew 24, 13, but he that endures until the end shall be saved.

It doesn't say he shall have a pretty good chance or have great possibilities or if he doesn't slip or fall like Dan Jansen or if he's a super Christian he shall be saved but if he endures until the end he shall be saved in a way it sounds simple.

He is the author, the beginner of our faith, and he is the finisher of the journey of faith, the Alpha and the Omega.

Peter denied Jesus terribly, was standing at a distance by a fire.

And friends, too many of us sometimes want to follow the Lord at a distance.

The blue, you know, smoke was whirling, ascending, when Peter's eyes were drawn to Christ.

And He saw the face of anguish and the heavy burden that Jesus was carrying, the sins of the world.

And Peter dashed away from this place, trying to get away, Trying to get away from himself.

We were told he didn't know where he was going.

And he found himself in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Back to Menu

Enduring Unto the End

Transcript

Sponsor

Recorded

Related

The Endurance of the Saints

54m

Wait On The Lord

34m

Simple Christianity

What Will We Do

57m

The Book of James

The Book of James: The Perfecting of Our Faith

58m

The Anchor Holds

52m

The Swimmer

42m

Plenary

Final Charge: Take up Your Cross

1h 9m

Dealing with Delay

30m

We Can Do It!

59m

The Beatitudes

Blessed Are the Persecuted

29m

Prayer, Perseverance, & Overcoming Negative Thoughts

45m

Balanced Living Bootcamp

Balanced Living Bootcamp- Part 5

1h 11m

Sound Doctrine