The Connect Room
The Connect Room
Persistent Faith
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Jesus is calling you back to a faith that does not quit, a faith that keeps believing, a faith that keeps praying a faith that keeps asking, seeking and knocking. He is calling you back to live a life with Persistent faith!
Persistent faith. Let's go to Luke chapter 18, verse 1 through 5. You can follow along if you have the notes. Luke 18, 1 through 5. Oh, real quick, starting September 23rd, we're moving into a bigger place. Okay? It'll hold 500 people in that place. So we'll have more room for if we can get together, we won't be won't be interrupted by noise on the outside. I'll send a text out. Your leaders will send a text out with the address and where we're going from there. Okay. Luke 18, starting in verse 1, he said, then he spoke a parable to them. Said that man always, say always, ought to pray and not lose heart. If you got that verse or in your Bible, circle it or highlight it, it says, not lose heart. Jesus says, There's a certain city, a judge who did not fear God, nor regard man. Now there was a widow in that city, and she came to him saying, Get justice for me for my adversary. And he would not for a while. But afterward he said with himself, listen to this, thou I do not fear God, nor regard men, yet because this widow troubles me, what does that mean? She was persistent. I hate to use the word nagging, but she was constantly on that judge, right? She was showing persistence. She was saying, I'm not gonna quit until I receive, right? I'm not gonna quit until things work my way. I'm not gonna fatigue, I'm not gonna tire, I'm not gonna be deterred, I'm not gonna be, I'm not gonna allow my focus and my purpose and my persistence to be robbed by any person, place, or thing, right? Or somebody who has no regard for man, right? And what does the Bible say about our enemy? That he hates you. He's the the accuser, right? He doesn't want, he has no regard for you, he has no regard for your future, he has no regard for your health, he has no regard for anything, have anything to do with you. But notice what Jesus said. He said, Man, don't lose heart. And I love the way the judge says, This widow troubles me, I will avenge her, least her by her continual coming. She wears me out. Man, that's my I'm paraphrasing in my my uh my lingo, but I'm gonna get this lady out of the way because man, she's just a constant, she's a persistent trouble. Right? And she she continually coming and she wears me out. Today I want to encourage you to stay and continue to walk in persistent faith. Don't let troubles, don't let dilemmas, don't let circumstances, don't let what somebody says, does or thinks rob you of your faith. Stop you of living a faith. Stop being an expectation. Come on. I want to encourage you today to stay and continue to walk in persistent faith. I want God, I want God when you get to heaven and say, Girl, you wore me out. He wouldn't say, girl, he'd probably say, Child, you warn me out. Or he'd say, Beloved, you warn me out. And I'm so proud of you. You didn't quit on your faith. You didn't, you didn't stop because things weren't on your timeline. You were your faith was knowing that, man, whenever I'm on time, I'm always always going to be the right time. See, that's what we've got to understand. This persistent faith is your complete and total trust in Father God, right? Your complete and total trust that he hears you, and if you know that he hears you, then it's no longer a matter of if, it's just a matter of when. Come on, I love living the fact it's a matter of when. In fact, last night the there was this big bear right outside my window making a bunch of noise. But but in the middle of the night, right? No bear, no bear. But in the middle of the night, man, I I I woke up because my thought, my thought life had just gotten away from me. Yeah, I tell you what I was going through. And if I wasn't, if I wasn't on my game, it could have complete me. This I would have called in the morning and said, you know what, I'm done with this church stuff. Because the enemy started playing with my faith. It's like, man, you're four years old. You mean you're you it feels like you ain't no different than the day when you started. What where's this proof that you're growing? Where's this proof? Where's this how many your people aren't doing any good? I'm just telling you what I was thinking, what was trying to come against me. And boy, it woke me up in a sweat where I couldn't go back to sleep. Right? Because understand, the enemy doesn't want you living in persistent faith. He wants you losing heart. Right? He wants you losing heart. Right? Especially in our finances. What do we all believe for? We want to be debt free. We're standing at it, man. We're no old man, nothing but to love him. Well, what happens? One thing happens after another. Well, we got a great plan. We're gonna we're gonna walk this out. We we did a prayer petition. There's nothing that's not gonna, this is gonna be not a matter of if, it's just a matter of when. And then all of a sudden, this one bill comes. Something happens, your car breaks down, your AC breaks down, a bill where you weren't expecting comes, and you're just like, oh circumstances, places, and things that are out of your control, right? The enemy wants you losing heart. I want to tell you today, right? Staying in persistent faith. You can you can live a life that you're expecting and still and have faith for more. But you gotta have persistent faith. I like to say you can have your cake and eat it too. You really can. Right? But it takes you staying in faith, keeping, speaking faith, walking in faith, expecting faith. Everything you're standing for, it takes you not allowing yourself to be moved by what you see, feel, and hear. That'll talk, that'll keep you and take you right out of being persistent. You can lose your heart that way. Come on, especially marriage and finances and health. That's one of the things. The enemy, we've allowed too much, we've made too much room for the enemy to come in and rob us and cause us to lose our heart. So then again, I want to encourage you to stay and continue to walk with persistent faith. Right? It's important that you continue to feed your faith, dog. You continue to feed your faith so that every day is a little bit better than yesterday, because that's our goal. We want today to be better than yesterday, tomorrow to be better than today. Well, how do we do that? We got to stay in persistent walk and live in persistent faith. That I know my God hears me, and if I know that he hears me, I can have what I say. Right? So the word persistent, if you're taking notes, I don't know if I put it on your notes or not, but it means this: continually, steadily and firmly in the course of action or belief, despite difficulties, delay, or discouragement. So again, it doesn't matter what comes your way, you're gonna stay stay firmly in a course of action or belief, despite difficulties, delay or discouragement. Let me put that in in faith context. It means it's a steady trust and refusal to give up on God. Church, I don't know how much more realistic I can make it. When you get off of your faith, when you start doubting, come on, you're not doubting. You're only you're doubting, let me put it this way you're giving up.
unknownCome on.
SPEAKER_00Right? You're you're giving up on who? You're not giving up on yourself, you're giving up on God and His promises. Right? So just know it's a steady trust and refusal to give up on God. Just imagine, just imagine Jesus is telling you don't lose heart. Don't quit, don't surrender, don't stop being persistent. Come wear me out in your prayers, come wear me out in your expectations, come wear me out with your seed sowing, come wear me out with your tithe. Because I promise you this again, you can have your cake and eat it too, because you're not gonna bankrupt our God.
unknownCome on. That's right.
SPEAKER_00All right, there's enough blessings for you times a thousand. Come on. So I'm gonna ask you tonight, where is it in your life that you haven't been persistent enough? Where is it in your life that, man, you're thinking, man, there's gotta be more to life than this. And I'm here to tell you there is, but my challenge to you is are you staying persistent in your walk of faith? Or have you lost heart? Say, man, I just don't know how much more of this I can. There's got to be something better than this. Right? Now, Father, thank you so much for tonight. Thank you, Lord, for the word that goes forth. Thank you for these wonderful people that came here tonight expecting, Father God, Lord, to be advanced to another level by your word tonight, Father. Lord, all of you and less of me, Lord, operate through my mind, my vocal cords, my hand, and my feet. In Jesus' name. Amen. Church, God does not want you to ever lose heart. He doesn't want you to get fatigued, he doesn't want you to get frustrated, he doesn't want you to quit, he doesn't ever not want you to stay persistent, he wants you to be like that woman. He wants you to say, he wants the judge to say, that woman wears me out with her persistence. Why does he not want you losing heart? I'm gonna break this down as simple as I can make it. Because losing heart brings what? Losing heart always brings fatigue. Losing heart always accompanies fear always comes with it. Worries are attached when you lose heart. Discouragement comes. Surrender to a situation, to a person or a circumstance. That's what happens when people commit suicide. They lose heart. They're thinking, man, there can't be, there's just no hope. They are now filled with fatigue, they're filled with fear, they're filled with worry, they're filled with discouragement, they're they're ready to surrender to a situation. They've already surrendered to a person, and the circumstances have gotten the best of them. Well, how do we do keep that from happening? Don't lose heart. Don't lose heart. Surround yourself with people that don't lose heart. Surround yourself with people that are gonna sometimes tell you the hard truth. Surround yourself with people that are gonna grab you and say, you know what, you're not going right. Surround yourself, that man, that have more love for you than fear of the situation. Have more, be around more people that care about you more than they are worried about offense.
unknownCome on. That's good.
SPEAKER_00Because you want to stay persistent. In this world we're living in, it's hard enough to get to the day without losing heart. I couldn't imagine not starting my day or ending my day with without time with Father God. I I encourage you, start your day at minimum of 10 minutes with the Lord to start out with, and then find 60 seconds throughout your day to get realigned with them. Just shut up and let them let just just just sit and listen to them. Right? You don't want to lose heart, but you've got to you've got to treat this like your life, it life or death matters because it does. The enemy wants you to lose heart because he wants you giving into fatigue. I quit, I gotta quit church. Life's hard, I gotta quit church. I'll come back when life gets easy. Well, guess what? Man, it it it's not it's come on, as a pastor, we've heard everything you can think of why people want to leave Jesus. And you've heard me use an example. Believers, we're supposed to be like slinky saying, Lord, search, search and destroy. But instead, we get so tight that we don't allow any one person, place, or thing, right, to come in here to help, to come in here to help identify, to keep us, help us, be edified to us, to keep us encouraged up. Iron sharpens iron, right? But sometimes again, we need those people that are gonna help us keep fear out, keep us from being fatigued, do not let us worry, to stay encouraged instead of being discouraged, to surrender to a situation, people, and circumstances. I promise you this in your life, there's people right now that are ready to fill that role in your life. Come on, we just can't lose heart, right? Let me give you a great example. Go to 1 Kings 19:4. I love this story because Elijah's my dude. Because his story is just his story is like you and I. We conquer so many things throughout the day. In fact, if you were to sit down at the end of your day and say, Man, what did I conquer? What did I overcome? What did I accomplish that I set out to accomplish? Some of you would always, some of you could fill a page, right? But listen to this first Kings 19:4. He said, But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree, and he prayed that he might die. What did Elijah say? Enough is enough. I'm paraphrasing. He said, Lord, take my life, for I'm no better than my father's. What did he do? Elijah lost heart, and I'm gonna give you some examples here in a minute. But what did he do? Fatigue set in, fear came in. What was he fear? He was fear of the queen. He got so discouraged that he said, Lord, take my life. Now, a lot of us may not get to that point, but I'll tell you, it's the same thing in your faith walk when you're saying, Man, this faith stuff just doesn't work. You start speaking the opposite of what you're believing for. And when you may not be saying, God, take my life, you're saying, God, I've given up on you.
unknownRight, right.
SPEAKER_00Because that's what it comes down to. I don't, I if it's I'm sorry if it's a little tough, but that's what it comes down to. When you lose faith, you're not giving up on yourself, you're giving up on the who we have faith in. You're not even giving up what you're faith in for, you're giving up on the one who can make that come to pass. Right? That's who we're giving up on. We've allowed the enemy to come into our heart because that's where quitting starts. Right? We've allowed the enemy to come in and fill us with fatigue, with fear, with worries, with discouragement, causing us to surrender to the situation, a person, place, or thing, or circumstances. Come on. How many of us said, Well, I take my Christian shirt off in that situation?
unknownCome on.
SPEAKER_00We all have, right? I had to repent because I did I did something wrong. I I communicated with my fingers instead of my my faith. Or I judge this person. I may not have judged of my words, but my thoughts, I was judging her down. Come on, we've been there. This is where he can cause you to lose heart. Why does he so focused on you losing heart? Because let me tell you, he wants you and I in a constant state of fatigue, in a constant state of fear, in a constant state of worry, in a constant state of discouragement. Because you know why? When you get like that, you don't know where north is or up and down is. You're just like, man, I'm just trying to make it through the day. Help me out. So this is where he wants you and I. Because if he can get you and I there, then we're no longer using our faith. Right? We're no longer becoming a threat to the enemy's ways or plans for this world. We're not, we're just getting kicked around on our can. But I talked about Elijah a while ago, and I got this on your notes. This all happened before he sat out and said, Father God, take my life. Listen to what he did, he declared a drought and it happened. God fed him by ravens at the brook chairs. The widow's flower and oil never ran out during the famine. This is all the things Elijah did. He said he raised the widow's son from dead. On Mount Karma, fire fell from heaven, consuming the sacrifice, the wood, and the stones. He prayed, and God ended the drought that he prayed for, that he declared for. And the last and not very least, God gave him supernatural strength to outrun a chariot. Church, can you not see why the devil wants you in a constant state of fatigue? He wants you losing heart in every area of your life because he cannot win when you and I are declaring droughts. He cannot win when you and I are outrunning chariots. He cannot win when we're bringing death back to life. He cannot win when we have a con, when we're living our persistent faith. It is impossible for him to win. That's why he got Elijah just by using one person to speak ill against him and declare something against him, to lose heart. I don't know about you, but man, most theologians believe that these seven things happen in a span of five or six years. It wasn't a couple of months. When I read that, I was like, man, that gives all of us hope because we all have ups and downs in our lives. We all do amazing things that sometimes our lives, and there's sometimes we don't do some amazing things. But let that encourage you. Right? This man, this is this is what we can accomplish when we don't, when we have persistent faith and we don't lose heart. The things that Elijah did, you can do in your family, in your job, in your body, in your mind, in your finances, in everything where your feet are, man, you can you can cause you can cause revival to happen. But the enemy wants us in a constant state of fear and fatigue, like man, I did it yesterday, it's somebody else's turn to do it. Right? He wants to put so much pressure on you that the moment you say, Man, I can't serve anymore, and I gotta quit going to church because, man, it just ain't working out in my life. And I want to remind you, if you're here tonight and you find yourself a certain area of your life, you find yourself sitting under that tree like Elijah, say, man, I just can't go on anymore and you've lost heart. I want you to take fact tonight, take solace tonight, take it to heart that this is not where your story ends. Your story doesn't have to end with you sitting by the tree. Elijah's story didn't. Your story doesn't have to. That area of your life that you hadn't seen victory yet, it doesn't have to, doesn't have to be that way. Right? Just don't quit. Don't lose heart. Keep persistent faith because your story's not going to end that way. In fact, I want to declare over you tonight, tonight is the night that your renewal happens. Come on, renewal bendings tonight. Renewal of what? Your faith. That God, I've been standing and believed for something right now that I might have gotten tired, Lord. I sat out, I started speaking fatigue, speaking defeat, speaking surrender. Lord, I want I'm renewed tonight. I know that you're gonna you're you honor your word. You're a faithful big God. If you can cause Elijah to declare drought and it happened, if you can feed him supernaturally using ravens, guess what you can do through me? God, I got a revelation tonight. I'm renewed that I meant I won't quit. I'm gonna keep my heart fixed on you. I I am not gonna, I'm not gonna lose my persistence. That's why you've got to surround yourself with people. Don't surround yourself that that that that stink like you stink at the moment. Surround yourself with people that you can call and say, hey, I just need a quick word. And that way you can get up from that that seated position, right? Because, church, how does your renewal renewal begin? I I found this pretty cool, pretty cool deal, and I want to share with you. You know, a campfire burns anywhere between 600 to 1100 degrees. That's pretty hot, right? Everybody know what embers are? That stuff that's underneath the fire. You know, listen to this. They can stay at burning at 800 to 1100 degrees. It doesn't mean that they're not, it's not as hot as the flames you can see, but they're still packing some serious heat. But guess what? So can your faith. Just because you find yourself sitting down and you've lost heart temporary at a moment doesn't mean you're still not packing heat. It just means that you need a refresh. You win. You need somebody to edify you so that that ember you that you are turns back into a burning hot flame of faith. But you're still burning faith. So don't lose heart on that. Don't could don't continue to be persistent. Because remember, we're declaring tonight that your renewal begins. Because your God never quits on you. In fact, let me show you what he did to Elijah. Go to verse 5 and verse 7 of 1 Kings chapter 19. 1 Kings chapter 19, 5 and 7. Listen how God shows up. Because why? God knew that even Elijah's embers were still packing a punch. Right? Go, listen what it says. Listen what it says. It says, There as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him. Woo! And said to him, Arise and what? Eat. Then he looked, and thereby his head was cake, bread, and coals, and a jar of water. So what did he do? He ate and he drank. And he laid down again. And the angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you. Church, I want to encourage you tonight, don't quit. Stay persistent in your faith because guess what? There's still a great journey ahead of you.
unknownHallelujah.
SPEAKER_00There's still a great journey ahead of you that's going to require your persistent faith. I don't care if you're young like these men or more mature like the rest of us in this room. There's still a great journey ahead of you. God's not finished with you yet. He's not through using your faith. God still wants to move mountains through your faith. God still wants to heal people through your faith. God still wants to consume all wood, all the beef, and all the stones through your faith. God wants to give you supernatural power so that 2026 can be your year of great faith and living in supernatural results in every area of your life for the rest of your life. Just don't quit. Stay encouraged. Hatch your faith, stay persistent. Don't lose heart. Before you want to quit, call somebody. Call somebody before you want to quit, before you want to give into your flesh, because it's a battle, right? It's a battle for your soul, the flesh and the spirit. Who's going to win your soul? Right? Come on. It's our job to stay in faith so that man, that our flesh, our we, our enemy never wins. So what do we have? What's our method to victory in this world? Our faith. That's your method. But I get it, it's going to be hard sometimes. You're going to need somebody to encourage you. Give somebody a call before you even allow quitting to come into you into your heart. Right? Because God will send an angel to come and touch you and feed you when you need it. He will not forsake you. Right? And yes, you may you may get to a point where you've got to sit down, and quitting may come across your mind, but just trust that God sees you and He knows what you're going through and He knows where you're at. Right? He wants you to say, daughter, come wear me out. And He'll send an angel to your body. That angel may look like you, may sound like you. But here's the thing: we've got to be ready because, man, our faith is going to be needed by someone. Again, just like back to church, man, you are where you are today because somebody had persistent faith. Somebody didn't lose heart when it came to Bruce. Man, I see the good in Bruce. Yeah, he keeps running from it, but I'm gonna keep praying for him. I'm gonna keep inviting him to church. I'm gonna get him saved. Right? Come on. Because you have a great journey still ahead of you. And let me close tonight with this. Let's go back to Luke chapter 18 and talk about, let's finish with the story of the lady. Luke chapter 18. I'm gonna read you out of the passion though. Verses 6 through 8. Jesus said this. Did you hear what the godless judge said? That he would answer her persistent request. I love that. Did you know that God, the true judge, will grant justice to all his chosen ones who cry out to him night and what? Day. Church, I want to encourage you again. Start your day, continue your day, and end your day with the Lord. Come on. It gets his attention. Because listen what he does. He said he'll pour out his spirit upon them. He will not delay to answer you and give you what you ask for. Come on, somebody. It says he will not delay. So I gotta ask myself when I read that, I do a start doing a checkup. Man, have I been persistent? Have I quit? Have I spoke delay? Have I spoke fatigue? Have I spoke uh anxiety? Have I spoke stress? Have I walked it out? Have I have I have I have my actions shown that? Because my word says that he will not delay to answer you and give you what you ask for. Which leads me back to Mark 11. If you say, say, say, and believe, what does the word say? You can have what you say. But between those three say, it's important you don't lose heart and you continue to have persistent faith. You say you say it with vigorous faith the first time and vigorous faith the third time, right? You don't let fatigue set in. You keep declaring, you keep standing on faith that man, I'm believed for something, I'm believing for this, I'm believing for this, right? And you the whole time you're saying it, you're saying it with full heart. Like you know it's gonna come to pass, like you just read that he will not delay to answer you and give you what you ask for. I love the next part. God will give swift justice to those who don't give up.
unknownCome on.
SPEAKER_00So, what does he tell you to do? Here, here, here it is. For those of you who who want to know, he said, so be ever what praying and ever what? Expecting persistent faith, not losing heart. He says, as the same way as the widow. He says, even so, when the son of man comes back, here's the question Will he find this kind of under this kind of under undying faith on the earth?
unknownCome on.
SPEAKER_00Let me ask you this when he comes back, is he gonna find that kind of undying faith in your home?
unknownCome on. Yes, that's true.
SPEAKER_00Come on, I don't know. Right? Undying faith in a home. See, when Jesus comes back, are you determined he'll find you not under a tree, but living out your persistent faith? Right? I I I try very hard that man, he'll never find me sitting under or constantly sitting under the tree. I'm not saying I'm perfect because I'm not, but I don't want to be sitting constantly under a tree in an area that I'm believing for. I want to stay constant because I just read that my God will not delay. Come on, and you gotta make sure all your actions are backing it up. You can't just speak a good game, you gotta live a good game. Come on, you can't expect a good game, speak a good game, you gotta live a good game, and you gotta say, say, say, and believe and not losing heart. And he says he won't delay. So maybe you're here tonight and you've grown a little weary. I get it, we all have. Maybe you've been praying for something for a long time and have not seen the answer yet. Right? I told you my story last night the enemy came and said, Hey, you've been believing for two years now. He ain't got your building here. You ain't no closer to that building than you were the day you signed that prayer petition. But he's a liar. Because guess what? That seed that we sold, it's already come back tripled. So, see, that's what he wants you to do. He wants you fatigued by the circumstances, he wants you declaring declaring surrender to his lies so that you can stop standing in faith. So you can say, I'm saying good here. By the time you get to the third saying, you're like, whatever. I'll just settle for anything at this moment. We all get there. And unfortunately, before you get through the first saying to the last saying, it's filled with fear, it's filled with complaints, it's filled with complaining, it's filled with probably a few cuss words. And when I say cuss words, I'm talking about fear. If you're here tonight and you've grown weary, maybe you've been praying for something for a long time but not seen the answer yet. Come on. Maybe sin, maybe disappointment, maybe somebody else's unbelief has caused you to lose heart. I want to tell you tonight, Jesus is calling you back to faith that does not quit. He's calling you back to a faith that keeps believing, a faith that keeps praying, a faith that keeps asking, a faith that keeps seeking, a faith that keeps knocking, right? He's calling you back to live a life of persistent faith and not losing heart.