At the end of every message to the seven churches in
Revelation chapters two and three, Jesus Christ tells us of a reward that
awaits “He who overcomes.”
- To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life
- He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death
- To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat
- He who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations
- He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments
- He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God
- To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne
If we are to overcome, there’s a matter that is absolutely imperative
to ensuring we overcome and endure to the end. Given the horrific events on the
horizon, there is absolutely no way we will be able to go it alone.
As we hear of wars and rumors of wars;
As armies begin to compass about Jerusalem;
We’re reminded of the prophecies we’ve learned from our
Bibles.
As Central Bank Digital Currencies, CBDCs, make central control
over buying and selling a reality, Revelation chapter 13 comes into focus.
I began to wonder how this will all play out at the
practical level. We know how it will all end with the return of Christ and the
setting up of the Kingdom of God here on Earth.
But in the meantime, there are some horrific events to take
place first.
How are we to survive the chaos all around us before Christ
gets here?
We don’t need unity just for unity’s sake. Unity, sticking
together, has now become a practical matter crucial to our very existence in
the interim. As the values we hold dear are pushed farther and farther out of
mainstream culture, we who hold these values, will be ostracized, cancelled,
even banished from society. And as outcasts, we will have only each other and
our faith in God to rely on.
If we are to trust one another under such dire
circumstances, we need to know one another on a deep level.
How well do you know your brothers and sisters in Christ? If
you had to rely on them in a crisis, could you? Would you?
I’m not speaking of support from the Church organization but of individuals within our congregation here.
Could you rely on them in a crisis?
Which ones would you look to?
Could they rely on you? You may ask, how can I
help? I have my hands full as it is.
Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans, that every
individual in the body has a role to play no matter how small. All of us have a
part and none are to be left out. God has dealt to every man a measure of
faith. We all have something we can contribute even if it’s just moral support.
So, how well do we know each other? How open have we been
with each other? Do we know each other’s strengths and weaknesses? Do we know
each other’s hopes and fears?
Do we know the struggles and issues each one is dealing
with? Have we shared our struggles and cares?
Do we know each other well enough to understand the issues of life that they’re dealing with each and every day? Health, finances, children, relationships, job, faith, and on and on it goes.
What if you did know the issues they are dealing with?
Would you go out of your way to be more kind?
Could you maybe help?
Depending on the issue maybe you could.
Would you help?
Would you take the time? The expense? The trouble?
Of course, you would! Wouldn’t you?
Could you console them? Encourage them? At least give them a
kind word? Pray for them?
How would that make them feel to know someone cares?
How would that make you feel?
-
Glad to be able to help? Of course.
-
Would you pity them? Would you think any less of
them?
Of course not.
We have all been in situations, if we’re honest with
ourselves, when we could have used a little help.
Here’s my question –
How can you help people if you don’t know they need help?
If you already have a relationship, it’s easier. If you are
open with each other, you can discuss how you can help each other.
How open are you with your brothers and sisters in Christ?
I’m not talking about “True Confessions” exposing all our sordid past.
But what are one or two things that keep you up a night?
What’s preying on your mind today?
What if you could open up to others about your
issues, your struggles? Wouldn’t it help to get if off your chest? Maybe get
another perspective from someone you trust?
What if we all had the kind of relationships where we
would feel comfortable discussing our needs, our shortcomings, our concerns,
and fears?
Wouldn’t that bring us closer together? Sometimes just
knowing others have the same concerns we do, helps.
Why would we want to do a thing like that?
Wouldn’t we be better able to offer support, better able to
help bear one another’s burdens? Build a support group we can count on?
However, we can’t help if we don’t share our concerns with
each other.
Let’s look at some of the reasons why we don’t.
Why Are We So Hesitant to Open Up to One Another?
- It’s complicated.
- We don’t see the need to.
- I figure, half the people don’t want to hear it and the other half are glad that it’s you who has the problem and not them.
- We were raised with the admonition, “Don’t air your dirty laundry in public.”
- “It’s nobody’s business.”
- “Nobody wants to hear your whining anyway. Buck up!”
- Fear that they will think less of me.
- Men, in particular, need to appear strong and in control.
- Taught to be self-reliant. Admitting we need help is a sign of weakness.
- Don’t want to be pitied.
- We’re hesitant to accept help.
- Don’t want charity – we should provide for and take care of our own, and not doing so is a sign of failure in our mind
- Pride – hate to admit that we need help
It’s easy to see why we would be hesitant to do this with
our co-workers, our neighbors, or even some of our own family, but…
The Household of Faith
With each other here, it’s different. Why? We are likeminded
individuals who all share a strong common faith in God and His plan of
salvation.
Gal 6:10 KJV As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, [Yes, love our neighbors as ourselves. But look at what it says next] especially unto them who are of the household of faith.
Taking care of our own takes priority.
Jesus told us we’re supposed to act differently
toward each other.
Joh 13:34-35 KJV
(34) A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
(35) By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
We are to be disciples, discipling others in support
of their spiritual well-being, especially.
Jas 5:16 NKJV
(16) Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
We need to learn to trust our brothers and sisters in
Christ to help us to see the shortcomings in our faith. Sometimes we can
see where a brother is going astray but he is too close to it to be able to
recognize it himself.
What do I need to know about myself that I don’t yet
know? Our brothers and sisters should care for us enough to let us know.
Jas 5:19-20 NKJV
(19) Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back,
(20) let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.
Peter says it this way –
1Pe 4:8-11 NKJV
(8) And above all things have fervent love for one another, for "LOVE WILL COVER A MULTITUDE OF SINS."
(9) Be hospitable to one another without grumbling.
(10) As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
(11) If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Minister one to another with whatever ability God has
given us. As good disciples, we do so with care, of course, not to appear
critical or judgmental but with humility and kindness.
Gal 6:1-2 KJV
(1) Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
(2) Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
Avoid being hypocritical, examining yourself
first. They are a child of God and doing what they believe is the best they
can. Show respect. Do so with love, having their best interests at heart.
Php 2:1-5 NKJV
(1) Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy,
(2) fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
(3) Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.
(4) Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
(5) Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,
We can’t help everyone. But we can make ourselves
and our resources available to help those we know and have an intimate
understanding of their circumstances. We not only know them but we know their
heart.
If a brother in Christ were to call you up and ask
if he can drop his wife and young daughter off at your house to stay while he
goes and deals with a dire circumstance at home, do you hesitate even for a
second? Do you question his motives? Or do you know him and his heart well
enough to honor his request without question or hesitation? Knowing he would
not even have asked if he didn’t sincerely need your help.
It’s about the heart. We need to get to know
what’s in their heart.
We can’t wait until tragedy strikes to try to
build that relationship then. We need to begin now building relationships
within the body of Christ so that when times get tough, we know we can rely on
each other.
Make time and place to have those deep
conversations. Schedule coffee together. Lunch. Regular phone calls during the
week.
We don’t have the luxury of easing into
relationships with others when we’re under fire. If we don’t develop our
support group now, we will be left out on an island when we need them most. And
no one can go it alone.
We need to develop a sense of urgency about
getting to know each other on a more intimate level. To get to know someone
really closely takes time. It’s hard to open up, full transparency, all at
once. We expose our true selves only a little at a time as we learn to trust
that person.
Under Fire
We will be brought under fire.
Christ told us times will get worse than ever before in the
history of man.
Mat 24:8-9 KJV
(8) All these are the beginning of sorrows. [wars and rumors of war]
(9) Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.
Mat 24:21 KJV
(21) For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
We will be hated by all men for His name’s sake.
We shall be hated and we shall be persecuted – whatever form
that may take.
We will need some help. We cannot go it alone.
Don’t think anyone is exempt.
2Ti 3:12 KJV Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
All shall
We will need encouragement to press on and not lose heart
(faith).
We will need help with our physical needs but also, and more
importantly, we will need help with our spiritual needs, moral support –
comfort, edification, exhortation, and encouragement to endure and press on.
We will need each other to stay true to the faith of God and
to live not by lies.
The time is coming when the love of many will wax cold. Men
will be so focused on their own desperate needs they won’t care about you or
anyone else. They will be totally void of compassion.
Desperate men do desperate things. A man under enough
pressure will do what he deems necessary at the time.
We know better.
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall
lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. For what
shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? (Mar 8:35-36 KJV)
We will rely most on those with whom we have the deepest
relationships.
Luk 21:16-19 KJV
(16) And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death.
(17) And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake.
(18) But there shall not an hair of your head perish.
(19) In your patience possess ye your souls.
In your patience possess ye your souls. Love is patient. We
will need to be patient with each other, building those relationships.
We will need to be patient waiting for the return of the LORD, our Deliverer. Wearying
not in well doing, enduring to the end and helping our brothers and sisters to
do well also.
If we are to stick together through thick and thin, good
times and bad, we are going to need to get to know each other intimately. And
by intimately, I mean the heart. We need to understand each other such that we trust
and understand each other’s motives.
I know that we’re told that the heart is deceitful above all
things and desperately wicked, who can know it. (Jer 17:9) However, we can get
to know what is in a person’s heart.
Even God needed to know what was in Abraham’s heart. Once He
did, He trusted him to carry out His mission.
Does that mean Abraham never had deceit in his heart again?
No. We know that he did.
In like manner, the better we get to know our brother, the
more we learn to know what is written in his heart. Does he love God’s
word and take it to heart?
Building Trust
How do we build trust?
Who do you trust most now? When it all falls apart who do you count on?
- Spouse
- Best Friend
- Child
- Mother, Father, brother, sister
- Boss, co-worker
- Pastor
Did that level of trust happen overnight?
You don’t have to tell them your deepest darkest secret, and
we all have them. But open up just a bit more about who you are, the real you.
The risks, of course, are will they think less of you and
will they tell someone else? How will you know if you don’t try? If he keeps
your confidence, you have gained your brother.
Something else –
It is nearly impossible to trust others if we are not
trustworthy ourselves.
If we know ourselves to be unworthy of trust, we cannot
bring ourselves to trust someone else.
Learn to trust by being trustworthy yourself.
The Golden Rule - Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. (Matt 7:12; Luke 6:31)
Treat them with the respect with which you
want to be treated.
Why is it that we feel we can trust family?
They already know us, warts and all! They know us best,
sometimes too well. They’ve been privy to our failures, faults, and fears since
our childhood.
They’ve seen us at our worst and still love us.
Also, we view family as obligated. They’re obligated to help
us. We’re family.
Are we not family? Are we brothers and sisters
in Christ, family in the same sense?
When Christ was told his mother and His family was waiting
to see Him while he was speaking with his followers, what was His reply?
Mat 12:46-50 KJV
(46) While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him.
(47) Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee.
(48) But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren?
(49) And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!
(50) For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.
When we become privy to the failures, faults, and fears of
our brethren and seen them at their worst, will we still love them?
Of course, we will. We must. Christ commanded it!
We need to see ourselves truly as members of one family.
We are sojourning brothers together in this journey to the Kingdom. We are
comrades in arms, good soldiers of Jesus Christ, bearing His name with honor.
We are members of the God Family. We have been translated into the Kingdom of
His dear Son. And we trust one another to have our backs.
In God We Trust
Ultimately our trust is in God.
Rom 8:31-39 KJV
(31) What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
(32) He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
(33) Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.
(34) Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
(35) Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
(36) As it is written, [Psa 44:22] For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
(37) Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
(38) For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
(39) Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Ultimately, our trust is in God. He will never leave us
nor forsake us.
God will care for those that are His, those who
trust in Him.
Nah 1:7 KJV The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.
Remember God commanded the ravens to feed Elijah
when he went to confront Ahab to tell him there would be no rain? (1Kings
17:1-6)
Remember the widow at Zaraphath that made him a
cake with the last of her flour and oil and they ate many days? (1Kings 17:8-16)
And again, remember the angel that fed Elijah when
he was fleeing from Jezebel? Twice an angel touched him and provided a cake baked
with coals and a jar of water. (1Kings 19:1-8)
Remember the story of Gideon’s fleece where God
made the dew fall just on the fleece and the second time when he made the dew
fall just on the ground but not the fleece? If God can do this, He can drop
manna in your backyard and leave those around you empty!
Here’s a story you may not be as familiar with –
2Ki 6:24-25 KJV
(24) And it came to pass after this, that Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged Samaria.
(25) And there was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass's head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove's dung for five pieces of silver.
[Remember in Christ’s day, a slave was only thirty
pieces of silver.]
2Ki 7:1-2 KJV
(1) Then Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the LORD; Thus saith the LORD, To morrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.
(2) Then a lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, Behold, if the LORD would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.
2Ki 7:3-8 KJV
(3) And there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate: and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die?
(4) If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there: and if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die.
(5) And they rose up in the twilight, to go unto the camp of the Syrians: and when they were come to the uttermost part of the camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there.
(6) For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host: and they said one to another, Lo, the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us.
(7) Wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life.
(8) And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and did eat and drink, and carried thence silver, and gold, and raiment, and went and hid it; and came again, and entered into another tent, and carried thence also, and went and hid it.
2Ki 7:9-15 KJV
(9) Then they said one to another, We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king's household.
(10) So they came and called unto the porter of the city: and they told them, saying, We came to the camp of the Syrians, and, behold, there was no man there, neither voice of man, but horses tied, and asses tied, and the tents as they were.
(11) And he called the porters; and they told it to the king's house within.
(12) And the king arose in the night, and said unto his servants, I will now shew you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we be hungry; therefore are they gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, When they come out of the city, we shall catch them alive, and get into the city.
(13) And one of his servants answered and said, Let some take, I pray thee, five of the horses that remain, which are left in the city, (behold, they are as all the multitude of Israel that are left in it: behold, I say, they are even as all the multitude of the Israelites that are consumed:) and let us send and see.
(14) They took therefore two chariot horses; and the king sent after the host of the Syrians, saying, Go and see.
(15) And they went after them unto Jordan: and, lo, all the way was full of garments and vessels, which the Syrians had cast away in their haste. And the messengers returned, and told the king.
2Ki 7:16-20 KJV
(16) And the people went out, and spoiled the tents of the Syrians. So a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the LORD.
(17) And the king appointed the lord on whose hand he leaned to have the charge of the gate: and the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died, as the man of God had said, who spake when the king came down to him.
(18) And it came to pass as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, Two measures of barley for a shekel, and a measure of fine flour for a shekel, shall be to morrow about this time in the gate of Samaria:
In one day all was changed. God can do all things.
We have but to trust in Him.
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own
understanding. (6) In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. (Pro 3:5-6 KJV)
Read the Psalms to increase your trust in God. [over 70
verses about trust]
Our allegiance and loyalty must be to God.
We are to trust God and be trustworthy ourselves.
Do good. Be ready to distribute and willing to
communicate of the truth of God, to disciple others and to be good disciples
ourselves.
1Ti 6:17-19 KJV
(17) Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;
(18) That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate;
(19) Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his
might. (Eph 6:10 KJV)
Our trust, of course, is in God ultimately, but while we
wait on the LORD, in the meantime, we
will have to hang on and endure what this world brings all the while keeping
our faith.
We cannot do this alone. We need to rely on each other.
If we’re to rely on each other in such dire circumstances, we must learn how to
do so now. We cannot wait until such a time and expect to know whom to trust
with our very lives, and the lives of our wives and children. The time is
short. We must begin immediately with a sense of urgency.
We must begin now to grow in faith and knowledge of the
hearts of our brothers. And the only way is to get to know each other on an
intimate basis now, heart to heart.
Our ability to endure to the end is an imperative matter
of trust. Trust in God and trust in each other in the family of God.
Endure to the end, #FinishStrong, and overcome. To him
that overcomes will be granted to him to sit on the throne of God!
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