Revelation/ Patiently Endure

The Risen Christ wants me to patiently endure. In the first three chapters of Revelation, while he speaks to the seven churches, the command is given. First it is given to all the churches in Ch. 1 vs. 9. Then he mentions it again in 2:2, 2:3, 2:19, and 3:10. if you read the verses in context, conquering is to patiently endure to the end. In fact he tells the wealthy church at Laodicea that they should ask for gold refined by him. I don't want to ask for struggles and pressures of life. I don't want to go through the fire, but it is going to happen and I am to patiently endure through it with the endurance that can be found in the Risen Christ. Onward Christian soldiers patiently endure!

In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world. John 16:33

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Romans 8:35-37.

The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. Revelation 3:21

Defintion 7 Conquer

Conquer - To patiently endure to the end.

Abraham The Father Of The Faithful

Did this man know happiness? Probably now and again as when Ishmael and Isaac were born or as when God stayed his hand in the land of Moriah. But that was not what mattered. His destiny, his cross, if you like, was to show faith, to lift himself time after time from the floor of disappointment and despair and return to the fight of life, to hear the tremendous promises and yet be content with the flimsiest of fulfillments before he died, to follow desperately God’s retreating shadow because he knew there was nothing else worth following, to lay down his pilgrim’s staff while still in the valley of deep darkness, seeing only the faintest rays of the suns rising on the distant hills. What an example is there for us whose faith is fitful and fleeting and cold and selfish, hardly deserving the name.

John C. L. Gibson The Daily Study Bible Series, Genesis. Westminster Press.

And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness. Genesis 15:5-6

Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. As for yourself, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. Genesis 15:13-15

So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? John 6: 67-68

Character Trait

There is a character trait that God likes, hard work. Not just hard work but hard work for the stranger, for the alien. Please do not confuse busyness and work. Busyness clutters life and makes it unenjoyable. Work brings joy and a sense of accomplishment(I cant believe I just wrote that) especially when done for God. The young girl Rebekah was asked by Abraham’s servant for a drink of water, a very easy task, but she also watered his 10 camels. They were large pack camels and had just completed a long journey. One camel can drink up to 20 gallons of water!This task must have taken a tremendous amount of labor. All the while the servant sits and watches! Because of her kindness, because of her hospitality, because of the hard work for someone she did not know, she would be chosen to marry Isaac, Abraham’s son.

For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5:46-48

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Hebrews 13:2

Quote 9 For New Years Day

"The story of your past does not have to be the script for your future"

Mike Fleischmann
Inlandhills Community Church
Oceanside, California