Endureth

Turn your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 13. 1 Corinthians chapter 13. We're going to read verses 4 through8 as we continue and come to the end of our series on the symphony of love. We'll be preaching this message and next week it'll be the final message in that series. I hope it's been a blessing to you. But as we look at 1 Corinthians chapter 13 verse number four, the Bible says, "Charity or love sufferth long and is kind. Charity envieth not. Charity vaunteth not itself is not puffed up." did not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinkketh no evil, rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeeth all things, endureth all things, charity or love never faileth.

As we've gone through this series, we've looked at the different characteristics of love. And here in verse number verse number seven, you have the last four characteristics. And the first one is that love beareth all things. And that is to realize that in any relationship, whether it's your marriage or with family or with friends or other church members or where any relationship, one of the challenges is is learning to bear with one another. Uh you're living with or uh have a relationship with another human being who's a sinner uh and uh has the same challenges that you have. And when you have opposite personalities and you have uh things that we grew up with culturally and all the different things that have happened uh in our lives that that cause us to be the person we are in that relationship.

One of the things we have to learn is that love just you know what this is something I'm going to have to bear with. Uh it is something that may not change. Uh my wife and I have been married 48 years. By the way, we have a couple here that's been married 50 years visiting from the mainland. Where were we at folks? Uh right over here. These folks are 50 years married. Congratulations. And uh and doing that and you know as well as I do that you put up with a lot of things for 50 years, don't you? Uh there's things that you just had to bear with things that have been there for all those years. And and and that's part of love is learning to bear with one another.

And uh there are some things we should not bear with and we should not put up with, but there are other things that we can learn uh to to bear with those things. Now the challenge is for us also is to change those things to say you know what I can do better I can do different as well and and the next phrase there is that love believeth all things and believing is to believe the best and not the worst in the other person I'm afraid often in our in our relationships we look at the person when they do something that causes us to get upset or hurt or whatever else it might be uh when they do that we we kind of assume well they did that on purpose they did that because they wanted to hurt me.

They did that because whatever other reason it might be. And it's it's just realizing, you know, I I want to believe the best in them. I don't want to assume that they did it to hurt me, but maybe they don't realize what they're doing or they they struggle with changing what they're doing. And to believe the best in the other person. And and then it goes on to say that love hopeth all things. And that is when it is is I believe the best and and it didn't change and they kept on doing it. And now I hope that this time's going to be different. So often in our relationships, we bring up a problem with somebody and we say, "Listen, I I'd really like you to change this and work on this and and they say, "Yeah, I'll do that."

And then they don't and and it happens again and it happens again and it happens again. And that's where hope comes in there. Hoping and and the other person and that they'll change, but also our hope is in the Lord and realizing that we have to put our hope in Christ. And we talked about that last week. But today we want to look at that final uh characteristic and that is that love endureth all things. The word endure means to remain under. In Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 13 it says, "Wherefore take on you the whole armor of God that you will stand in the evil day and having done all to stand."

Uh it it is a is a term that's used to describe somebody in the military that has to remain in the battle. When the commander says you have to hold at all costs, there's no surrender, no retreat, you've got to endure. When the bullets are flying, the bombs are falling, the smoke and the noise and and the battles going on around you. Everything inside of you says you need to run. You need to leave this situation. And and yet God says you need to endure all things to remain under and that means to take our stand. In Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 27 it says neither give place to the devil. The word place here comes from the word topas where we get our word topography from and not to give the devil uh ground.

You know those of you that are military you know you don't want to have the enemy have a stronghold. You got to take down that stronghold. You can't let him have that stronghold. and and and so often we allow this stronghold our life. We need to take a stand and not give place to the devil. Uh I love the quote by Winston Churchill World War II. He said, "We shall defend our island whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches. We shall fight on the landing grounds. We shall fight in the fields in the streets. We shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender." You see, you've got to fight for that relationship.

The problem is most of us what we do is we fight in the relationship. we attack one another instead of attacking the problem. And and and we need to realize that I've got to take that stand. And and and we're not going to quit. We're not going to give up, but we're going to keep on in the battle. Uh General Smith in in Korea had this quote. One of the Marine generals said, "Retreat. No, we're just attacking in the other direction." Sometimes it feels like uh this battle is lost. But you know what? Uh I love what Chessie Puller said, also a Marine. Uh he said when we've been looking for the enemy for some time now we finally found him.

We're surrounded. That simplifies things. Uh you know when you feel like you're surrounded, when you feel like there's no hope, that's when you've got to find your hope in the Lord and that's when you got to take your stand. In 1 Corinthians chapter 16 and verses 13 and 14, it says, "Watch ye stand fast in the faith. Quit you like men. Be strong. Let all you things be done with charity or with love." And and we need to take that stand in love. And we need to say, you know what? This is where I'm going to take my stand for this relationship. This is where I'm going to take my stand. But we've got to do it in love.

Go over to Ephesians chapter 4 if you would. Ephesians chapter 4 and look at verses 25 through 27. Ephesians chapter 4 and beginning with verse number 25 down through verse number 27. The Bible says, "Wherefore, putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place to the devil." You see, again, he says, "Don't give place to the devil, but you've got to you got to speak the truth in love." And and and what we have to do is when we have a problem with somebody, when there's a problem in our relationship, we've got to take our stand.

In other words, there's times where you got to say, you know what, this behavior is not acceptable. Uh, it's not right for you to treat me this way. It's not right for you to do this. And there's a time in that relationship where you need to take a stand. It's not just a matter of bearing with what they're doing, but what they're doing is wrong. But to take that stand, but to do it with love. You know, when I counsel married couples and and they're going through a problem and they're thinking about possibly divorcing and and I tell them, "Listen, you need to you need to fight for the relationship, uh what that what you're the other person is doing is not right, is not acceptable, but you need to do it.

You need to take a stand, but you need to do it in love." You know, if a couple's got a situation where one of them is committing adultery, that's not acceptable. That's not right. You need to take a stand against that because that's destroying the relationship. But you need to do it in love, not with the idea, I'm just going to walk away and leave you. I want to restore. I want to recover this relationship. I want to make it right. A and to look at the ways that we can attack this situation to make it right. You see, love is not meek weakness. Love is meekness. Look at second Timothy chapter 2.

Second Timothy chapter 2. So often we look at the situation say, "Well, if I let them get away with that. They're going to see me as being weak." And love is not weakness, it's meekness. In 2 Timothy chapter 2 and beginning with verse number 24. And the servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle unto all men apt to teach patience in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves if God pervention will give them repentance to acknowledging the truth. And if they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him his will. See in meekness trying to recover that person trying to restore that relationship.

How many of you ever uh re either read the book or seen the movie Hacksaw Ridge? You ever have you seen that one? And you know about that. Of course uh uh uh Desmond Doss was uh uh in the in the army and and he was a conscious objecture and everybody kind of looked as being afraid and weak and chicken, you know, not willing to go into fight and battle and and yet he was not weak. He saved 73 men off that ridge. He he he gave his life and in sacrifice to save those men and and and put himself in jeopardy. He wasn't weak. And weakness is not meekness. And sometimes we see, well, if I if I I can't let him get away with this and you can't.

And sometimes we need to take a stand and say way you're treating me, what you're doing is wrong and it's not acceptable. But at the same time, we need to take that stand in love a and realizing that in meekness, we can help recover that person and help them to get that thing right. And we need to approach it from that direction. You see, the best defense is a good offense. In Matthew 16:18, it says, "And I say also unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." You know, last time I checked, gates were defensive, not offensive.

And and you and I, we're supposed to be attacking, not just on the So often, we get defensive in our relationship rather than being offensive and saying, you know what, I'm going to attack the problem. Again, not attacking the person, but attacking the problem. And and and in James chapter 1, turn over there if you would, please. James chapter 1 and:es 19- 22. James chapter 1 and:es 19- 22. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. For the wrath of man workketh not the righteousness of God. Wherefore laying apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness and grafted word, which is able to save your souls, but be you doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

You see, he says, "The wrath of man workketh not the righteousness of God." It's not attacking the other person, but it's together to attack the problem. And and to realize that you got to be doers of the word. What do I need to do to attack this problem? What do I need to do to change this situation? Go over to Luke chapter 14. Luke chapter 14 and verses number 31-33. Luke chapter 14 and verses 31-33. The Bible says, "Or what king goeth to make war against another king siteth not down first and consulteth whether it be able with 10,000 to meet him that cometh against him with 20,000? or else while the other is great way off, he sendeth an ambassador and desire conditions of peace.

So likewise, whosoever be of you, whosoever you whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. He says, listen, before you go into battle, you need to sit down and have a plan. And you need to have a a a plan to win this battle. How am I going to win the this relationship back? How am I going to win in this situation? You see, you're you need to be in it to win it. And and when you have a problem with somebody, so often what we do is we react instead of acting. And when you react, it's always going to be the wrong. You need to act. Act in love. Act in a way that is planned out of how are we going to get through this situation?

How are we going to resolve this problem? How are we going to take care of this? And and so we need to act, not react. And then we need to know when to surrender. Go over to Psalms chapter 37. Psalms chapter 37 and verses 7-9. Psalms chapter 37 beginning with verse number 7. Psalms 37:7 says, "Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him. Fret not thyself because of him who prosperth in his way. because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. Cease from anger and forsake wrath. Fret not thyself any wise to do evil. For evildoers should be cut off. But those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth.

He said, listen, rest in the Lord. Surrender in the Lord. And and what we need to do is we need to realize that there comes a time when we just need to surrender this situation to God. We need to realize that I can't control the situation and I need to surrender it to the Lord. Look at verses 3-5 in Psalms 37. Trust in the Lord and do good. So shalt thou dwell in the land and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the Lord and he shall give thee desires of thine heart and commit thy way unto the Lord um from the Lord most trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass. You see, what we have to do in this situation is say, "Listen, I can't control the situation and and my anger and my wrath and and and my flesh can't deal with the situation.

What I have to do is I have to give it to the Lord in trusting in him and I have to surrender to God." and whatever you're facing, whether it's a marriage problem or a family problem or a problem with another person, whatever the situation, and you say, "Listen, I I I I I've been burying this thing for a long time, and and I I believe that they really wanted to change, and they haven't, and I've given up hope, and now now I'm in that point of enduring." And in that point of enduring is when we need to surrender to Lord and say, "God, I can't handle this. I need you to take over." See, there is a time to cut off a toxic relationship.

The Bible tells us in Romans 16 17- 18, "Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned, and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple." And there is a time where maybe you got a friend that's toxic and and and and is not changing and and and they're affecting you and there's a time where you need to say, you know, I need to cut off this relationship. I I've talked about I don't believe in divorce. I believe God wants us to stay married and wants us to keep our commitment to one another.

Uh but there are three A's that no one should put up with and that's adultery, abuse, and addiction. And there's times in a marriage where you have to look at that other person say, "Listen, I'm not sharing you with another person." There's a time where you got to look at the other person and say, "Listen, you're addictions are are destroying our family." And there's a time where you got to look at the other person, say, "You're not going to abuse me. You're not going to treat me that way." But you always do it out of love, not out of anger, not out of wrath, but do it in love. Uh and and and the goal is always to restore the relationship if at all possible.

And and there is a time where you need to surrender and and and you need to cut off a toxic relationship and you also need to surrender the right of revenge. Go to Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12. So often what happens is because we've been illreated, because we've been hurt, uh what we want to do is make the other person hurt. We want to we want to treat them like they treated us. In Romans chapter 12 and beginning with verse number 17, it says, "Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lith in you, live peaceably with all men."

Dear beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath. For it is written, vengeance is mine. I will repay, sayeth the Lord. Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him. If he thirst, give him drink. For in so doing, thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. See, no matter what what the what's going to happen, it's always done out of love. It's always done not in my anger, not my wrath, not my own flesh, but it's done in the spirit of God. It it's done realizing that God is the one that can change. Only God can change that person, and only God can change my situation, and I need to put my trust in him.

And and and to realize I've got to surrender the right to revenge. I've got to surrender that that anger and that wrath and give it up to God. The Bible talks about, you know, the the soldier of Christ. Go over to 2 Corinthians chapter 10 if you would. 2 Corinthians chapter 10. We celebrate our armed forces, you know, and uh I'm I'm thankful for our armed forces that we have military. Uh we we've got a great military. I love working with the military. I love seeing the men and women that are protecting our country and I'm thankful for each one of you and how strong you are and how faithful you are.

But you know what? Our military is only as good as the arms that we give them as well. Uh one of the reasons we have one of the best militaries in the world is because we've we've armed them with the best equipment as well. In 2 Corinthians chapter 10, look at verses 3-5. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

You see, we have to have those weapons that are going to help us to win this victory. You cannot do it in the flesh. You cannot do it in your own strength. You need the weapons of God, the power of God. In Zechariah 4 and verse number 6, the Bible says, "Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, this is the word of the Lord undeservable, saying, not by might nor by power, but my by my spirit, sayeth the Lord of hosts." And we need to realize that it's not my strength is going to get the victory in this situation, but is the power of God working in my life, not the strength of my arm. Turn turn over to Psalms chapter 44 if you would, please.

Psalms chapter 44. And I'm gonna ask uh brother Cole, could you go over and get that table right over that little round table in the corner over there and bring it right here in the front? Uh in Psalms 44 and verse number three, it says, "For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them, but the right hand and thine arm and a line of thy countenance, because thou hast a favor onto them." You see, it's not our own arm. It's not our own strength. And this is where we struggle in our relationships is we think somehow I'm going to do this in my own power, in my own strength, and I, you know, that it's going to be me that's going to get that victory.

And it's not. Now, we're going to do something here. I'm I want to do an arm wrestling contest here. So, I'm going to ask Ricky, can you come up here and help me out with that? Okay, Ricky, we're going to have arm wrestling contest. And Tupu, if you'll come on up here at end also. And we're going to have an arm wrestling contest between Tupu and Ricky. Now Ricky, do you think you can beat Tubu? Maybe. Maybe. All right. I like that optimism there. All right. Now, uh, in his own strength, in his own power, uh, that's going to be difficult to do. But you know what? If I say, "Jesse, can you come up here also?"

And, uh, Jesse, you're going to help out Ricky over here on his side and having that arm wrestling contest. All of a sudden, that changes the whole dynamics, doesn't it? Because it's not in his own strength. is not by his own power. All right, Ricky, put your arm up there and get it with you. All right, Jesse, go. No, Jesse, you go over here. You're going to help Ricky. All right. All right. Now, see, now they've got a little bit more strength, a little more power cuz he's not doing his own. Oh, no cheating, too. All right. Thank you. You guys can sit down, folks. Every time you try to do it your own strength, whether it's your marriage, your family, your relationships with others, you're going to fail because we can't do it our own strengths, not by our arm, but it's by the strength of God, by the power of God.

And that's where we fail so often. See, the battle is the Lord's in 2 Chronicles 20 and verse 15. And he said, "Hearken you all Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and now King Jehoshaphat, thus sayeth the Lord unto you. Be not afraid, nor dismayed, by reason of great multitude, for the battle is yours, not God's." You got to get your eyes off the battle. You got to get your eyes off the situation. And you got to get your eyes on the Lord and seek your strength in him because it's his battle. Now, to do that, you got to put on the armor of God. You know, Ephesians chapter 6, it talks about put on the armor of God, the breastplate of righteousness and the belt of truth right on down through there.

And it's that armor. Those of you in the military, you don't go into battle wearing civilian clothes. You you got to have that armor on. That's what that you need. And you need the armor of God. And folks, it's something we actively put on every day. You know, when you get up, you put on your clothes. And you ought to take time every day, say, "God, I want to put on the armor of God." Put that list up on your mirror and just take a moment to go through the checklist and make sure I put on the armor of God because I'm going to face a battle today that I cannot win in the flesh, but I need the power of God.

I need the armor of God. In 2 Timothy 3:12, it says, it talks, well, the Bible talks about endure hardness. We read that earlier. And in 2 Timothy 3:12, it says, "Yay, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." Folks, you're going to go through hardness. You're going to go through persecution. And are you ready to face that? You know, those of you in the military, one of the things you have to ask yourself when you put up your right hand, join, am I willing to die for my country? Are you willing to die for Christ? The Bible says in Philippian in Philippians chapter 1 21, for me to live as Christ, to die is gain.

You know, it's easy to talk about how I'm willing to die for my country. But most people don't die for their country. You know, it's interesting. I looked up some statistics. Did you know that only 0.5% of the population of the United States has ever been in the military? That's hard to believe, isn't it? We're around military so much you think everybody's been in the military, but only.5% of our population today has ever served in the military. 7% of America uh that that or I'm sorry 5% currently serve in the military. 7% of Americans have served in the military. Only 7%. During World War II, only 12% of Americans served in military.

You know, I think about World War II. I think half the country was in the military, but they weren't. only 12%. 91% of military serve in non-combat roles. They'll never see battle. 2.7% of the US military died during World War II. Now, any deaths is bad, but again, I would have thought it been a lot more than that. And here's the point I'm trying to make is this. We could talk about how I'm willing to die for Christ. But few, very few of us in this room will ever be called on to die for Christ. But you know what? He did call us to to live for him. Romans 12:1-2, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto him, which is your reasonable service.

and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is a good and acceptable and perfect will of God. I'm thankful for those in the military that are willing to die for their country, but it's more important that we're willing to live and serve our country. And it's more important that you and I are willing to live and to serve God to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. And sometimes that hardness is right there in our own relationship. But God calls you to stick by the stuff. In 2 Sam 1st Samuel 30:4, it says, "For who will hearken unto you in this matter?

But as his part in that goeth down to battle, so shall be his part that territh by the stuff, they shall part alike. They had gone into battle and David divided his company in two groups. One that went off and to defeat the enemy and the other one that stayed back and watched the stuff. He said when they came back, the guys that had gone to battle said, "We get to divide the spoil." I said, "No, everybody, because these guys served as well." I remember during the first Iraq war, we had a number of folks that went and were deployed in Iraq and one of them was a Marine. He was uh he was connected with the special forces and and he was over there for the for the whole time.

And when he came back, I expected to hear all these great stories about being in battle and all the victories he's seen, all the rest of it. And he came back and he said, "Pastor," he said, "Pastor, you don't understand. every [clears throat] time my unit went into battle, I I was assigned to guard the stuff. He said, "One day, I was in the warehouse guarding the warehouse and I looked at one of the boxes, it said Pop-Tarts." He said, "My job in the Iraq war was I guarded the Pop-Tarts." And sometimes we're not called upon to give our lives to Christ in death, but he does call us to live our lives in victory.

And we need to understand that we need to stick by the stuff because without those that stick by the stuff, those that are in battle could not win the battle. Those of you that fight in the front lines, you know, for every one person on the front line, there's probably a dozen back there that are supporting him in one way or the other. And they're just as important to the victory, if not some ways even more so, than you are. And we ought to be willing to live for Christ. Jeremiah 12:5 says this, "If thou has run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses?

And if the land of peace wherein thou trust is they wearied thee, then how will thou do in this swelling Jordan?" If you're having trouble fighting against the footstelter, what's going to happen when they bring the armor in? If you're struggling to serve in peace, what's going to happen when it's time of war? And folks, all of us face battles and what we want to do is we want to run and we want to give up. And God says, "No, you need to stay faithful. I've not just called you to die for me, but I've called you to live for me." And that means enduring hardness. And some things are hard to endure, but we endure them in love.

to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Are you a soldier? Those of you in the military are in the military for different reasons. Those of you that are in the military, have been in the military, answer questions for me here. How many of you join the military to get away from home? Raise your hand. All right, that was your primary reason. I I met with a guy for lunch this week and he he said uh I asked him, "Why did you choose the fields you were in?" because the first one that I could get off to basic training with I could get away from home real quick. Uh maybe that's the reason why.

How many of you joined the military because you wanted to see the world? Anybody like that? All right. And then how many of you joined the military because of the college fund? Raise your hand. That's that's a good incentive, isn't it? How many have joined the military because you needed a job? That's what you you needed a work to do. You know, something really, you know, a a a skill, a marketable skill like killing people or driving a tank, you know, something like that. Uh, how many of you joined the military because you were tired of people telling you what to do when you joined the military?

That's why I joined. All right. I wasn't very smart. And how many of you joined the military? Now, don't answer this one. How many join the military to stay out of jail? You know, there's a few of that way as well. You know, there's a lot of different reasons why people enlist. And there's a lot of reasons why people get saved. Some people get saved because they don't want to go to hell. That's a good reason. In John 3:18, he that believeth on him is not condemned. But he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God. Without Jesus Christ as your savior, you're condemned already.

Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death." And you and I are condemned without Jesus Christ. And we're condemned to hell for all eternity. And I tell you what, that's a good reason to get saved. So you don't have to go to hell. Maybe you got saved because of a guilt of sin. In Luke 7:47, "Wherefore I say unto you unto thee, her sins which are many are forgiven. For she loved much, but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little." And maybe it was that that burden of guilt, knowing how wicked you truly were, and knowing that you're a sinner. Romans 3:23, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

Sometimes the toughest thing to get somebody to get saved is to get them get lost first is to get them realize how bad they truly are, how wicked they are. And one reason to get saved is because that I want that burden of guilt lifted. I want to be forgiven. Another reason to get saved is to go to heaven. Not just to stay out of hell, but to go to heaven. 1 John 5:es 12 and 13. He that hath the son hath life. He that hath not the son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the son of God that you may know that you have eternal life that you may believe on the name of the son of God.

You see, you can know for sure you're going to heaven. You can know that your sins are forgiven. You can know that you have eternal life. Let me ask you a question. How many of you know that you are in the military? Raise your hand. How many know that you're in the military? You know that. Why? Because you listed. Because you put up your right hand and you said, "I do." and you join the military. You know, if I were to walk up to you say, "Do you think you're in the military?" "No, I don't think I'm in the military. I know I'm in the military." "Do you hope you're in the military?" "No, you know you're in the military."

And you know whether you're going to heaven or not if you trusted Jesus Christ as your savior. Now the people join the other people get saved because they want to have peace with God. In John 14 27, it says, "Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you. The world giveth. Not as the world giveth, I give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither be afraid. Do you want peace with God? You want a peace of knowing your sins are forgiven, knowing that you're going to heaven. And then others join others get saved to change their lives. In 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 17, the Bible says, "Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature.

Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. They want to change. You want to be a better person. And the best way to do that is by trusting Christ as your savior. You know, you may or may not have found the military to be all that you thought or expected it would be. But salvation is more than you could ever imagine. Bible says it's more than we can think even. And God wants you to be a better person. Now listen, I didn't have to change to join the military. I joined the military to change. Just getting my haircut didn't make me a part of the military. Putting on a uniform doesn't make you a part of the military.

Going on base doesn't make you part of the military. And you can look like, act like, and talk like a Christian and not be a Christian. In Ephesians 2:8:9, it says, "For by grace are you saved through faith, then not of yourselves." It's a gift of God, not of works. less a man should boast. But then verse 10 says this, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. I didn't have to change to join the military, but when I joined the military, I had to change. And the same thing with salvation. You don't have to change to be saved, but when you get saved, God says, "Now I want to change your life."

Do you know that you're going to heaven? Do you know that your sins are forgiven? You know, when you join the military, you need to understand your contract. In John 5:39, it says, "Search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me." You see, you join the military so that you can be changed. And when you join the military, you give up your liberty. You give up your rights. In Galatians 5:1 says, "Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." In verses 13-15, for brethren, you have been called unto liberty.

Only use not your liberty for an occasion of flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the love is fulfilled in one word, even in this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. But if you bite and devour one another, take heed that you be not consumed one another. You say, "Pastor, why should I endure this relationship? Why should I put up with that person and what they're doing?" It's right there. Yeah, you're free to walk away. You're free to give up, but God says, "I gave you freedom to love. Freedom to do what I have called you to do. In 1 Timothy 1:18, "This charge I command une son Timothy, according to the prophecies which were went before on thee, that thou mightest war a good warfare."

2 Timothy 3:12, "Yay, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." You're going to face challenges in your relationships, in your marriage, with family and friends, with others around you. The Bible says, listen, you're going to have to bear some things. It's just part of relationships. You got to put up with the other person. You got to bear with their weaknesses and their things in their lives. And then believe the best in him, not the worst. Give them the benefit of doubt. Hope hope that this time's going to be different. But after all of that, God says, "I want you to endure."

There's no surrender, no retreat. You're in this battle to win. And as we talked about, winning is not always seeing that person change, but winning is seeing me change and God work in my life. And I know some of you are facing some very difficult situations, very difficult challenges. In Hebrews 12:4, it says, "You have not resisted unto blood, striving against sin." God says, "Listen, you can do better than you think you can." And as I study history, I love the history of our armed forces. I've seen many battles that we thought were lost, that were won because someone said, "You know what? I'm not quitting. I'm not giving up. I'm in this battle to win. And they took a stand and they got the victory. And you can too.