Mike Bickle emphasizes the perseverance of Jesus as depicted in Isaiah 49:1-7, illustrating how Jesus, in His humanity, faced resistance and hiddenness while remaining faithful to His calling. He highlights that Jesus' perseverance is a model for believers, encouraging them to remain diligent in small tasks despite opposition and discouragement. Bickle explains that true success in God's eyes is not measured by outward achievements but by the heart's response to Him, urging the congregation to embrace humility and faithfulness in their own lives. He reassures that God sees and values their efforts, even when they feel unnoticed or ineffective.

On Sunday as well But we get to be one of the host That is having a prayer meeting and and web-streaming it We did this last year to places all around the world where we're crying out like we do the twelfth day of every month But 1212 is the big one where we won't web-streaming around the world and so we're going to take every session and From 12 to 12 and so we're not doing the worship with the words as typical But we're taking each session crying out for the poor and suffering. It's Tom here Tom Lofton. Oh, yeah, Tom stand up He's one of the leaders of this. He's come in town. And so we welcome you tomorrow night. You're gonna talk a little bit about it Yeah, good and Sunday morning. Thank you, Tom Thomas Trask who's one of the who's the primary face of it? who was the leader the super general attendant leader of the Sibley of God for about 20 years, I guess but a Credible man of God who resigned his position as powerful position to spend the rest of his days crying out for the poor and suffering in intercession, which is a remarkable most guys Resigned their position to take one that's bigger in the eyes of men He had this huge position and he resigned it to give himself to this. I said, why'd you do it? He goes I want to give my days To to prayer for the poor and suffering across the earth and destroying up prayer. I thought wow I got Bible verses to back that up Okay, let's look at Isaiah 49 and let's pray Father I ask you just by the release of your spirit to bless the speaking and the hearing of your word this marvelous Reality and truth of your son and his perseverance when he walked upon the earth and we thank you for it in Jesus name amen, well in Isaiah 49 a Very remarkable passage, it's a unique passage where the Lord pulls back the veil so to speak and gives us insight and how Jesus carried his heart in his humanity while he was on the earth and how he embraced perseverance now the Very the the prayer that Paul prayed in 2nd Thessalonians chapter 3 verse 5. He actually references this truth Let's let's read this prayer 2nd Thessalonians 3 verse 5. May the Lord direct your heart into the love of God That was session 4 and may he direct your heart into the patience of Christ that's a very important phrase That Jesus had patience and the word patience Should be understood Not as his patience with people right now as he reigns over the earth He certainly has long suffering with people, but it's talking about his perseverance When he was on the earth in his humanity how he had to endure and not give up or give in He actually had to do that and Paul says may the Holy Spirit direct your heart into the revelation of the love of God and into the revelation of the perseverance of Jesus Now one of the premier passages on his perseverance is Isaiah 49 Now this is a characteristic that he needed in his humanity at his first coming while he was on the earth God doesn't need perseverance Man needs perseverance. So Jesus as God did not need it because God has no obstacles But as a man He had to endure the same Resistance that we have to endure When he was on the earth, there was much resistance against him doing the will of God We've kind of have this idea. He was just an automatic pilot and what the scripture teaches us that one of his One of the glorious facets of his humility is that he actually walked out perseverance in fullness perfectly never wavering Paragraph B now the essence of perseverance in Terms of our context, I mean the ultimate is that he endured death he embraced death but perseverance isn't only about embracing a You know a Persecution and even a physical death, but it's a whole lot before that because he embraced death at the end But for 33 years he embraced another type of perseverance Here's how I define the essence of perseverance Continuing to faithfully press into God Continuing to faithfully serve the Lord in small things in the face of frustrating circumstances in the face of people resisting us the face of lack of cooperation Many other annoying issues. I mean that's the real word annoying Like people say I could I would serve God more diligently, but the people they resist me nobody cooperates There's not enough money. There's not enough anointing. There's not enough Impact it's so little it's so boring. It seems so weak. I Don't think I want to keep doing it. They just kind of little by little drawback and just begin to give in To lethargy and passivity and the scripture teaches us don't do that Stay a hundred percent engaged with diligence No matter how small the task is that God has assigned us to no matter how much resistance How many believers even shake their head at you and say you're really off the wall. I mean even people on your team They they won't go along and help you they resist you Every one of us understand that here's the revelation Jesus had that same opposition throughout his life You know, I think of the worship leader You know, the drummer won't cooperate the sound man's off. There's not enough presence The singers don't show up. You don't have enough money. Your body's tired. You're in a bad mood. You're leading worship That's the time to stay faithful That's what I'm talking about with perseverance I'm not talking about just Pressing in to martyrdom. I'm talking about something day by day by day Because the vast majority of our life is made up of small things There's only a couple big things in our entire life that we will do in our relationship with God the 99% of our life is Small things that don't seem powerful that most people don't appreciate that seem a little boring to others and it's only by knowing his eyes are on us and That he's watching us It's only by knowing he cares That it matters to him what we're doing and more than that He's actually going to reward us for that simple little act of obedience Throughout our life repeated over and over and over That's perseverance Paragraph C Now God's goal He has several ways you could say this but this is a in Relationship to perseverance and humility because perseverance of Jesus is an expression of his humility There's many expressions of it. This is one of them God's goal is to fill the earth. I'm talking about in the age to come forever To fill the earth with With people who embrace voluntary love and voluntary humility in a way that continues forever God is not going to put us on automatic pilot or give us a humility pill We will actually Engage with humility as part of our free will under the anointing of the Spirit forever He's going to fill the earth with people who choose love and humility even in our resurrected bodies We will say yes to humility Matthew 23 Jesus said the greatest will be a servant. That's not just in this age. It's the greatest virtue It's those with that will have the greatest authority But also it's those that will have the greatest intimacy with God even in the age to come the greatest is related To humility or to servanthood. They're all together paragraph D Now in the famous Daniel 7 prophecy Where Jesus where the Messiah was identified as the Son of Man? Only one time in the Old Testament. It's one of the most prominent prophecies about Jesus the Messiah he was called the Son of Man and This happens to be the title this one passage from Daniel 7. It's the title That Jesus referred most to he referred back to Daniel 7 13 but the Son of Man prophecy Was connected to Jesus having dominion over all the nations of the earth forever But here's what he says in Matthew 20 verse 28 the Son of Man meaning that dominion over the earth prophecy that I have And I'll rule all the nations and all the kings of the earth there they'll come under my authority I'm gonna operate in that prophecy now and forever with the servant spirit What a huge statement Jesus was making paragraph II We looked at this at one of the other sessions the psalmist describes Jesus's victorious Triumph over the nations at the time of a second coming and it says in your majesty when your display of power is in fullness and Your have victory over every opposing force Finally, it will be openly displayed across the whole earth for all to see Psalm 45 verse 4 tells us Jesus does it on the basis of humility? There's not an ounce a trace of pride When he's victorious at the highest level imaginable He will do everything from humility in his victory even defeating his enemies He will do it with a heart of humility and he will do it to establish humility He will do it to establish humility in the nations Now paragraph F. I don't fully understand all that. I'm saying here in paragraph F just so you know and it's it's a It's it's Because there's mystery I'll just say it that way to how it all works in the age to come But I know this and the age to come the Saints will never set and you have a resurrected body You'll never set so there's no thought that you will compromise But neither are we in the age to come? Automated to where we're kind of robotically responding to love where now that we have a resurrected body You know, I cannot think opposite of what's going on. No, you won't be a robot you will still engage your free will Yeah, we'll have a resurrected body filled with the Holy Spirit. No sin nature the devil's in prison the immediate presence of God Everything was going well, but somewhere The free will does not disappear though. We will engage it in the right way meaning The whole context of the resurrection and everything involved somewhere in it everybody will be in empowered and convinced and enthusiastic about humility and It just won't be automatic Meaning it's because humility by definition if you don't choose it, it's not humility same with love Let's go to top of page two now one of the most significant passages in the Bible That points to Jesus's humility related to his perseverance Very strategically the father hid him Jesus walked through seasons of hiddenness. Well, he's still in a season of hiddenness right now In the nation's most the people the earth don't see who he is Isaiah 49, this is a most remarkable passage Isaiah reports on a dialogue Between the father and the son I mean when you read Isaiah 49 1 to 12 the father and the son are talking and Isaiah's eavesdropping He's reporting the conversation now, is that amazing? How'd you like to have one of those experiences? Well in the age to come you'll have a lot of them this Conversation gives us insight into Jesus's perseverance Which is the same thing as as an expression of his humility his perseverance as a man Now this is what was shocking to Isaiah undoubtedly and certainly to the People of Israel when this was announced It's shocking to our natural mind That the Messiah would first come to the earth with an element a significant element of hiddenness His glory would be veiled and hidden Who thought of that idea the father did? He could have come the first time In the clouds on a white horse and flaming fire, but he came veiled his glory was veiled strategically but this gives us a lot of insight into God's heart and also What's important to God in his leadership over the nations? Let's let's read it Isaiah 49 we'll just look at verse 1 and verse 7 then we'll look at the other verses a moment Now it starts off with Jesus talking He has a message He says in verse 1 listen to me Take heed all you peoples that means all the nations all the Gentile nations everywhere from far away in time and far away in distance Everybody on the earth. Listen to me. I have a message Jesus talking now, we know the message is that he walks in Humility and perseverance and hiddenness in his leadership on the earth and his first coming that's the message the value of Humility and perseverance and hiddenness. That's the message. That's part of the message. He's giving but that message is so foreign Matter of fact, it's not a coincidence that in Matthew 11 29 Gee the only characteristic Jesus ever said about himself is I am humble and he said learn from me He's actually Referencing in my opinion this verse he's telling the nations in Isaiah 49 listen Everyone in the nations and then when he came in the flesh, he said learn this message from me. It's the Isaiah 49 message It's the most neglected message in the church. I Believe that or certainly one of the most neglected messages in the church is the one that Jesus is going to communicate here That it cried out that he would be listened to But it's one that we want to Really focus on because it gives us insight and to the splendor of who he is But it also gives us insight on how we can partner with him and be close to his heart and walk in intimacy with him Goes on to say verse 2 God has the father has made my mouth like a sharp sword. Now. This is Jesus still talking Now when he says the father's made my mouth like a sharp sword That's a promise of his triumph. All of his enemies are going to be overcome When he says my mouth is like a sharp sword, it's a warning to the rebels He goes when I come I will be hidden at first But be warned My mouth is like a sharp sword be warned. Oh nations if you if you confuse my humility with my approval of your compromise and His mouth like a sharp sword it's a pattern for our ministry we want to believe God to have our words Penetrate people's hearts by the power of the Spirit to be anointed in a way to make a difference in people's lives and the way That he did But now he goes on after he describes the power of his ministry Now he gives this new idea He says in the shadow of the father's hand he has hid me and Isaiah might have said what Did I hear you right you are hidden by God but Not that this conversation really happened this way, of course But Why would the Messiah come and be hidden? That's one of the great offenses in History to God's leadership. He hides so much. Why not unveil all your glory all the time like right now particularly in my life Why this? Strategic hiddenness this restraint of your glory this Hiding and veiling the full splendor of who you are why? Let's read it again and the shadow of the father's hand he's gonna hide him Then he says it again, but in a different way Meaning Communicating another message. He goes actually The father has made me a polished Shaft or that idea is an arrow because it's the shaft of an arrow is the idea the father has made me a polished arrow and In his quiver Back there in his quiver. He hid me Well first he hid me in his hand then after he polished me and prepared me for battle. He hid me again in his quiver Why would God hide Jesus ever in verse 7 the father says to Jesus and He calls him Him whom the nation's a poor Said Jesus my beloved. I have hidden your glory and the fruit of it is the nation's a poor you They don't like you. They don't like your leadership. They don't really know who you are Then he goes on to say You are this is the title the father gives Jesus You are the servant of the nations of the rulers of the nations is the idea at every level of leadership You are their servant what an amazing statement of the most powerful man Now this is talking about in the age to come in the Millennial Kingdom when Jesus is over all the kings of the earth openly in the sight of all he will operate as a servant as he Walks out his leadership over all the rulers of the earth. There will be no boasting. There will be no strutting There will be no I told you so none of that He will walk in perfect humility in the fullness of his glory like he walked when his glory was veiled matter of fact He will have such victory that all the kings of the earth will actually worship him the most powerful Leaders on earth will worship him. They will be awestruck at him That's how much glory is going to be revealed There have be Now he says let's go back over it again He says listen he starts off in verse 1 listen This is one of the primary messages That Jesus wants to communicate throughout all of history to his people, but it is one of the most neglected messages But he cried out listen to me and again later He would come with his own lips and say learn humility from me. I will teach it to you Now we're going to notice that his paragraph see He's hidden in two different ways or two different seasons first under the father's hand secondly in the father's quiver Now to be hidden means that the fullness of his glory the fullness of his power his full destiny Was veiled it was hidden from men. Nobody could see it. He knew it, but nobody else could see it In tell the father's appointed time then father will reveal it all to the nations now, here's the point I Mean point one. It's that's the the glory of who he is and his heart but point two It's the same way that he's relating to you He has given you a destiny He has appointed you to glory in the resurrection beyond anything we can imagine and even more of his glory in this life But right now you can't see it and we might say Oh God This is unfair and the father would say it's exactly the kind of leadership I gave the son he obeyed me in this same kind of dynamic While he was hidden for 30 years. I mean like Perfectly hidden. He was just that good kid down the look down the road Joseph's kid Who was a really upbeat kind of happy spirited humble guy in the carpenter shop who did good work. That was all they knew Then for three and a half years There was a little peak. I mean he raised the dead but beloved he raised the dead one here one there as I've said before If Jesus didn't say the word Lazarus when he said come forth all the graves would have been empty if he simply would have said come forth I Mean raising the dead one here and one there was a very veiled Very measured display of his glory and even the last 2,000 years His name is growing in prominence across the earth But beloved the earth does not know who he is. Even the body of Christ does not get him He still failed paragraph D Says in verse 3 the father said to him Jesus is still talking Isaiah's reporting the conversation He said let me tell you the father said this to me It's gonna put a couple ideas together three ideas together He said to me. Here's what the father said to me son. You're my servant I want you to operate in a servant spirit and everything that I give you to do Number one. You're my servant. That's how I want you to operate Number two you are Israel Now Israel was first the name of a man Jacob when he wrestled with God his name was changed to Israel an angel said you got a new name Israel means Prince with God and then later became the name of the nation So God says you're gonna walk in humility as a servant, but you are my prince You are the premier ideal picture of what it means To rule with me and under my leadership. You are the ultimate prince and Then the father gives him the third point. I Will be glorified through your humility and walking out this this destiny of being the prince with God the father will Be glorified on a worldwide level forever through this man. What a statement He will be glorified forever through this man and we that's developed by Isaiah in verse 8 to 12 I will be glorified my name will fill the earth the father would say because of your labors because of your Servant hood and because of your nature and your anointing to operate as the prince with God paragraph II now, here's the Trans the heart Transforming part of this passage. This is the one that really touches us in terms of transforms our heart To say yes, we're gonna live like you live. We're gonna carry our heart in the way you carried your heart It's in verse 4 and 5 Now in verse 4 and 5 what happens is Jesus He sets forth two different perspectives of his life Perspective one it's how men esteemed him They thought he wasted his life and the second perspective is that he was glorious in the eyes of God though he seemed like a total waste of time and a failure in the eyes of men and the point of verse 4 and 5 will read in a moment is that every servant of God must choose which Perspective they're going to live by the eyes of God Though our work is small and weak and seemingly ineffective and powerless But it's glorious to God though. The reward of it is down the road the full reward Yes, we get a little reward in this life, but the full reward is in the age to come will we connect and care with God and carry our heart in that way or Will we yield to the natural mindset this Little life of weak small labor is it's not worth anything Nobody even knows or cares. I mean nobody even knows anything. I'm doing just I'm wasting my life. Those are the two Contradictory, I mean contrasting opinions that Jesus sets forth so verse 4, let's read it Isaiah 49 verse 4 and 5 and Jesus said I've labored in vain. I Spent my strength for nothing That's the human point of view Now he gives the contrast word. However, or surely he goes but surely My reward is with God and he's going to give it to me in fullness later My reward is delayed. That's the issue My full promotion is delayed I understand that Jesus would say and then he went on to say it's more than just my reward or My promotion is delayed. He said I'm actually the way I'm living Though men think I've wasted my life. I'm Glorious in God's eyes even now in my smallness Because God looks at the heart Man looks at the outward accomplishments and achievements and God looks at the movements of the heart and That's how he measures the success of a man you could have a real big ministry and a Small heart and be a failure in the kingdom of God Or you can have a very small ministry and a very big heart response and be have be very Successful in God's eyes and that's what Jesus is talking about here Now let's read verse 4 again He said I've I've labored in vain I Mean here he was the first 30 years You know, he works at a carpenter shop and they thought you know, he left this kind of prospering business the Nazareth carpenter comm operation He was doing well Very skillful very charming very humble total integrity people liked him He took off to Jerusalem to go preach Had some big crowds But the crowds all waned and the crowds were there for a little time They waned and he began to say some really radical statements about himself. They killed him only a hundred and twenty followers Were the result of three and a half years of power ministry They thought you know this guy he had such a good future He could have had four or five carpenter shops if he would have stayed with it And if he would have just not been quite so bold on the things He said he might have had a large following but as it is they killed him in his prime 33 years old and only 120 people showed up in the prayer room six weeks later Most everybody fell away Not very successful at all Men said his strength was spent for nothing now what the enemy comes and Says to us and I even our unrenewed thinking tells us our life in our energy our energy That's our strength is the big order. I mean the effort we pour out. Nobody cares. It moves. Nobody it makes no difference I got good news for you. It moves God Really it might not move anybody But it moves God It's glorious in his eyes because he has a heart of humility. So he's esteems humility in a way men don't Humility moves God Outward displays of power move men Huge movements and great achievements move man, but humility moves God It's glorious to him like I've told the analogy that you know when Billy Graham stands before the Lord one day Jesus isn't going to say Father look, I think it's Billy Graham. He's coming Because he filled so many stadiums no man in history has filled more stadiums for the gospel than Billy Graham But God's not going to measure Billy Graham by how big his stadium ministry was but rather how big his heart response was in humility And love that's the way he'll be measured and every one of us the same He's not going to say you filled stadiums. Wow. He's gonna say your heart moved towards me Therefore my heart moved and I am touched by the way you lived. I believe that's the sort of thing That's going to be said to him top of page page 3 paragraph G Jesus had confidence now remember men said you've spent your strength for nothing You got a one carpenter shop and you had a preaching ministry that the crowds swelled up for a short period of time they all fell away Even as even as most loyal men all denied him. The only ones who didn't deny him were a group of women Small group of women they stayed true all the way through it. It's true But here's what Jesus had confidence that the first 30 years he had confidence. He was glorious in God's eyes He's never raised the dead. He's never healed anybody. He's never preached a sermon He's just related to people in the neighborhood in his family and was involved in a carpenter shop. That's all he did It have anything of notable in his life. And here's what the father said Matthew 3 17 before he ever started his ministry. He goes my beloved son. I'm so Pleased with you. I haven't preached a sermon. I haven't healed one person. I haven't done anything Yes, my son. You've walked in love and humility for 30 years I'm so moved by the way that you've resent that you've endured all the resistance because as a man He had the same resistance we did, you know, the lady down the road didn't like the way he made the table The table was perfect Beauties in the eyes the beholder. She didn't think it was tight. She wanted her money back He ordered the wood it came three weeks late the neighbors were mad at him The people that worked under him they showed up and didn't do the work right or broke something and the insurance pot claim didn't pay it Off I guarantee you he had the same resistance we have We have this idea that he walks through life everything perfect. No, he got tired. He got weary He interact with people it says in John 7 verse 5 But even under the anointing in his ministry his brothers his four brothers still did not believe in him They were wagging their head saying, you know, he's a good guy, but he's really stepped over the line They don't believe in him his brothers There's family dynamics That he has to walk through Now during these first 30 years, he has not achieved anything notable nothing that drew anybody's attention But the father's attention He expressed it. I am so moved you are glorious in my eyes the way you've walked in love and humility Go paragraph H now. Let's go on to Verse 4 and 5 we Jesus knew the scope of his calling but he knew the scope of his calling in his destiny in his His ministry was in God's time. Look at look at the scope of his ministry impact verse 5 and verse 6 He knew it all the time While he's in the carpenter's shop verse 5 The Lord hears what Jesus says and again Isaiah picks up on the conversation The Lord formed me from the womb and the father made it clear just like in verse 1 the same here in verse 5 son I want you to operate in a servant spirit all your days now. It was Jesus's nature So that's not a problem But the point is the father and the son were in perfect agreement That everything that he would do in his triumph would be done with a servant spirit He goes here's what I want you to do. I want you to bring Israel back to God Jesus came to the earth to bring Israel back to God. That's a big calling turn a whole nation to God Verse 6 but then the father said son It's not enough that you turn Israel back to God. I mean, that's the Elijah calling. Yes, you have the Elijah calling Elijah was called to turn Israel back to God. You have the Elijah anointing plus some was a whole lot But he says you're gonna go far beyond the Elijah anointing to turn Israel back to God verse 6 It's too small of a thing That you just turn one nation The quality of man that you are the humility you walk in the nearness that you have with me He goes here's what I'm saying to you. I Want you to turn all the nations of the earth back to me what he says in verse 6 and I'm summarizing it He was not just Israel every nation every king of the earth every single person on the earth They will come to me through your amazing leadership and the way that you live under my authority now Jesus has this mandate in his mind and he's Sanding the wood at that table and that lady's complaining and that guy doesn't show up at work And he breaks the table and the wood shows up late And he didn't say you know what I'm out of here I'm not only turning Israel to God. I'm turning the whole earth to God Why am I messing with this guy showing up late? And my my brothers wagging their head at me and this lady complaining at me and I'm tired anyway Stay up all night and prayer last night, but he had a physical body was tired Why don't I just forget it? I got a big calling Why is plug into that big calling because his first calling was to express humility He was to walk in perseverance in the face of the resistance paragraph I verse 7 Let's read verse 7. Now. We just referenced verse 7 a minute ago Here's what the father says Okay, Jesus you had this amazing global calling you're gonna bring the whole you're gonna bring my glory to all the earth The earth will be filled with my glory because of your ministry or seven, but the father says to the son Son, you understand that the people will despise you you give it Friends and foes they will despise you they will wag their head at you several verses say You understand even with your great calling you will have to endure people next to you despising you As well as the leaders of the nation people who don't even know you will be against you They have never met you and they will already be against you saying the most terrible things about you and they've never met you once Some of you said man sounds like My experience. Well, let me tell you there's one that went ahead of you He knows everything about these emotions and he didn't say, you know, I'm tired of it. I'm out of here. I don't need this No, he said I'm doing it for the sake of love and I'm doing it humility Unrelated to how anyone responds. I am glorious in my father's eyes Then he went on to say it's not only they despise you the nation Singular which would be the nation of Israel singular some translations have a plural then it would be the Gentiles. They abhor you It's not only they despise you they hate you perfectly and they have for 2,000 years the nations abhor you but in this case using the singular word nation would be Israel and For 2,000 years the nation that he came to win abhors him. They still don't know who he is, but despite Being despised and abhorred he's going to operate as a servant when he restores them There's going to be no offense in his heart at all and the Kings One day this is at the time of the second coming through the Millennial Kingdom all of them will see you they will worship you Why is this going to happen Because the father has chosen you and the calling he gave you will surely come to pass But in his timing in his way, and it's not for now you have to endure and persevere against the smallness the resistance the Opposition the fatigue and all the other elements you must resist it in your humility and stay faithful to be diligent in small things for now But one day you will see the choice I've given you will be openly displayed for the whole earth to see Roman number three I have a number of verses here in paragraph a you can read them on your own in Hebrews particularly where Jesus endured everything we endure. That's the idea Everything that we endure people from soft Resistance to really aggressive resistance to people just not caring at all what he's doing No one cooperating with him all the things that we experience Be Lost the reputation now. We say well, he's Jesus, but I tell you what in the church You know, we get one or two people sitting in the room here who kind of look at you say you're all kind of off The wall that just hurts our feelings so bad. We want to quit the kingdom Beloved there's gonna be godly people that write you off Not just evil people godly people will write you off So what I mean honestly so what You're glorious in the father's eyes Stay steady though. You look like you're wasting your life in the eyes of man. Stay steady John 15 25 they hated him without a cause there's no more difficult Type of rejection than to be hated for no reason. I mean not just ignored They hated him and they had no reason. I mean at least when I do something Foolish and people are annoyed it does make sense Like him to give me some grace, but it makes sense. They didn't just You know just kind of resisted beloved they hated him they had no reason at all Sounds like what some of you have walked in recently When he was reviled first Peter 2 He is reviled. That means they said bad things about him to his face behind his back. They were not true What he did He committed himself to God's eyes He said father I commit myself to you you answer in your timing you judge and the Lord says I will but not till the age To come it's gonna be delayed judgment Well, it's before your eyes I can live with that as long as you see and you care and you remember that I've loved you that's all I care about the Lord says I'll answer it fully but in my timing, but it just won't be till the age to come See Now we're gonna talk about perseverance again It's kind of resay it again put it in the notes a couple times just to kind of let us know what we're What we're looking at here the primary issue in perseverance Continually being diligent Not passive Not kind of just I'm tired of this. Nobody's cooperating diligent. No matter what anyone does No matter how little the money how many good people write you off? How many good people won't respond to you how ignored you are by everyone does it matter we stay steady? We're going hard after God till the end Not for a good 10-year run till the last breath. We're gonna go a hundred percent diligent till the end Not wind down the last five years a Lot of people start winding down about age 30 honestly My years of ministry they go hard in their 20s already in the 30s. They got some Self concocted version of the grace of God that makes them feel good about living passive with God and blaming the Bible verse for it Verse 1. Here's what the writer of Hebrews says Run with endurance with same as word is perseverance the same ideas perseverance run persevere Don't don't let up not till the very last day of your life go hard seek him serve Unrelated how anybody responds how many people ignore you how many promotions you get passed up and they give them to other people Doesn't matter God's watching you Look at verse 3. I love this consider him who endured that's what this message is about We're considering the Isaiah 49 Messiah. We're considering him top of page 4 Matthew 25 verse 21 Jesus Says if you've been faithful and that means for years not not for a summer not for a decade till the end It's a few things Luke 19 calls it small things. So whether it's few things or small things, which other whichever Sir a message that we look at because Luke 19 again says if you've been faithful with small things, I mean, you're very small I'll make you ruler now Why is it that Jesus is going to reward us for such small things? I'll tell you why He sees the value of them why he did so many small things in his life that nobody else appreciated or even soul Because I did it. I know about small things. I did for years Nobody paid attention, but my father did that was good enough for me That's why I see the value of it and I'm gonna reward you I get it Paragraph II, this is really significant Perseverance the perseverance of Christ is not just the daily pressures and temptations. It does mean that Not folding under the daily routine of smallness Mundaneness being ignored nobody cooperating Temptations coming. Here's what it means. It means more than that perseverance means Finishing our work, which means not quitting till the end in full diligence not quitting is the point I believe the number one temptation on the planet that every human being faces is the temptation to quit. I Believe that's the one temptation Every single human being faces multitudes of times in their in their life Some are more tempted by this and that the other everyone's tempted with quitting Jesus made a point out of this He says John 17, I finished the work I didn't quit I Went to the very end my last breath. Look at the next verse acts 20 verse 24 Paul said it I finished and I finished with a good spirit a lot of people turned on Paul even within the household of faith They turned on Paul at the end of his life. He said All of Asia has left me the believers throughout Turkey have turned their back on me, but he goes, you know what I'm going hard I'm not drawing back I'm not taking my cues by how people are responding or resisting me 100% to the end again Many people sort of wind down the last few years Instead of staying diligent if as you get older and you lose energy You can still keep diligence according to your strength don't become Comfort and self-centered when you get older, but again problem isn't just the old people my people Problems the 30 year olds there's there's a problem in the church. They're quitting their diligence and drawing back all over the nation and Massive numbers and again calling it the grace of God. I'm gonna finish Face of weakness smallness. I hope may get real big may get real small. It may break. We may have no money We may have all the money. We may have total this and total that from each end. This is my assignment I'm sticking till the end. I don't care what anyone does Related to me staying faithful to it by the grace of God. I'm not Excited because people responding I'm excited because the Lord said this is the assignment you do it People show up it's cool. They don't show up. I promise you the pays the same where I'm going It is the same He's not going to talk to me about how big my conferences were He's going to talk to me about how I responded to him to the last day of my life That's what he's gonna ask you about. Look at this famous prayer of Paul 2nd Thessalonians 1 verse 11 I'm not going to develop it but he prays That they would fulfill all the good pleasure of God's goodness. That means they would not quit They would fulfill everything God had in his heart no matter how small it is No matter how remote it is No matter how unanointed it seems no matter how other people write it off or worse than write it off They don't even pay attention. We are going to fulfill it all We're not going to quit because of discouragement or frustration And we're not going to be disqualified because a compromise we're gonna fulfill it all till the end in even though it might be really small That's what Paul prayed for him paragraph F Now people talk about the power of God and mostly we talk about power of God to make impact on people, which is good That's very biblical But Colossians 1 is talking about the power of God on your heart So you don't quit or draw back in your diligence Colossians 1 you'd have strength with divine might so that you would persevere at the heart level No matter how hard or how remote or how small your assignment is or how who is ignoring you you are going to stay Steady to the end and that will take the power of God Yes, it takes the power of God To raise someone from the dead, but beloved it takes the power of God to live a life of perseverance Like Jesus did Paragraph look at a paragraph Roman before Colossians 3 The glory of your life is hidden with Jesus Beloved catch this the glory of your destiny and the truth about your love and the truth of your humility and how God's moved by it even though Our love and humility so weak, but God is so kind he's moved by it. I Mean my love and humility so weak But the Lord says you keep giving yourself to me like that. It will move me The glory of it will not be revealed to you or anybody else till the age to come Your glory is hidden till Jesus's glory is manifest on a global level In other words your humility your love as fragile as it is It's glorious to God and God says I will show you how much it's moved me on the last day when I show the nation's The glory of my son. I'll show you who you are. You know what the person who doesn't get you the most is you You've written yourself off some of you God's moved by the way. You've said yes, and you think it's stupid It's I'm not gonna do it. I forget it The Lord says don't Because I haven't forgotten it the glory of your life will be shown even to you on that day Hebrews 11 next verse This is a very powerful verse without faith, it's impossible to please God now, here's the essence of faith Here it is. You got to believe he is And you got to believe he responds he rewards Here's the essence of faith God's that confidence God's watching you Nobody else says he is it moves him and He will respond in a way beyond anything you can imagine that's what faith is Here we are in our little life Hardly impacting anybody Reaching to God hard. We don't feel the anointing the prayer times boring. The Bible's confusing There's no manifest presence of what we're doing. The money's not there. Nobody will show up people won't cooperate your body's tired Your family's wagging their head at you, but you're doing the will of God Because you believe he's watching you believe he is You believe it moves him. You believe he will respond in his timing, which is a little bit of this age Fully in the age to come that's the way Jesus did it Not asking us to do that, which he did not do he did it perfectly Papa page 5 I'll just say this about Roman number 5 just 60 seconds and you read on your own if you want to The weakness of God the so-called weakness of living in humility Faithfulness when things are small, but we know they move God and Then we settle our heart to live carry our heart in the things that God values humility and love We do that that is superior to everything else Look at Roman number 6 Well, let Jesus is the arrow. What about you? Because that which Jesus God the Father did with Jesus. He's doing the same thing with us That's why it's in the Bible. So we're inspired and we have understanding what's happening Let's read it again. Isaiah 49 verse 2. He made my mouth like a sharp arrow The Lord's plan is to give you an authority So where you speak even you whisper the word it will touch people even if it's one-on-one Even if it's the guy down on skid row the homeless man, it will pierce his heart and touch him You may never have a microphone. It's not about platform ministry. It's about our words piercing Darkness in people's hearts. That's the plan You know give you a lot more of that in the age to come but we have an anointing for that even one-on-one Pray for somebody's back gets healed a little bit, but it still got healed a little bit Our word has some power in it, you know, it's little it's real but here's what he said Jesus said I'm in the shadow of God's hand He's making me a polished arrow He's hid me in his hand and he hid me in his quiver Now each one of us is being prepared like an arrow Every one of you in this room that loves God He is preparing you like a polished arrow right now, just like he did Jesus be The arrow starts as a piece of wood in a branch on a tree That's where an arrow starts arrows are there the early David arrows the branch of a tree the archer Cuz I like that branch. I see an arrow there. The Lord says oh I choose this one talking about you. I see an arrow there You got to polish it. So the grueling process begins The branch is cut from the tree stripped of leaves Barks torn off the fruit is torn off. It's immersed in hot water. They put that branch in hot water It's a kind of a gnarly old bent up branch. I mean not all been up, but it's not straight yet They have to straighten the branch By putting pegs on each side of it in hot water and putting pressure on it and over time because of the hot water The branch it's like braces on the on someone's teeth it little by little Straightens takes time grueling took a lot of time to make an arrow Paragraph D. There's three parts of an arrow There's the shaft that's the part you got to make straight and polish. There's the arrowhead at the top. There's the feathers at the back Every believer has to go through all the stages to be a polished arrow. Just like Jesus did top of page 6 II The shaft that branch has to be straightened a Crooked arrow won't hit the mark There's crooked areas in our life the Lord says I'm straightening those areas if you shoot a crooked arrow It doesn't hit the mark. God has ordained you to hit a mark It may not be big in the eyes of men, but it's big in his heart. It's dear to him the the the target he's prepared you for the crooked shaft is useless a Polished shaft speaks of godly character. There's purging sanding polishing. Oh That arrow goes out F Now the arrow straight gone through quite a quite a season to get straight Glad that's over with now. They put an arrowhead on it An arrowhead is what gives the arrow the power to penetrate The armor of darkness you need that arrow that arrowhead That speaks of the Holy Spirit's anointing on the word where I'll penetrate. There's an anointing on the word Gee well you can have a straight arrow With an arrowhead that could break through the armor, but it's got to have feathers Or if it doesn't have feathers it won't fly in the right direction. It won't be stable in flight I Believe that speaks of having our lives grounded in the word that our lives committed to the Word of God Not just to our few favorite concepts, but we're grounded in the word paragraph I Now Jesus was hidden two different ways first. He was hid under the father's hand while he's being polished Now we all can appreciate that we don't like it Being hidden while we're being polished But the second hiding was the one that troubles us now that he's polished. He's got the feathers He's got the arrowhead now. He's hidden in the quiver wait. I thought I was only hidden. I'm ready I'm ready to shoot Why am I in the quiver? Well, there's hiding while we're being prepared and then there's hiding after we're prepared because of the perfect wisdom of God Jesus is still in hiding. I tell you he was really anointed He was walking the streets of Galilee Still in the nation's the nations don't get who he is now J The quiver that's that, you know, they put it in the back the quiver there To an arrow. It looks like a big dark empty shaft Lord I'm prepared. I'm ready. I'm polished. I'm straight. I'm ready to be shot I've even been used before I'm a custom to operating in the favor of God the anointing God even a little bit But it's lifted Wait, I thought once I get used a little bit it only gets better and better I'm used a little bit some favor some anointing some doors opening it lifts Wait, that's not biblical the name of Jesus. I rebuke you Jesus said I was hidden in the quiver too after I was polished and ready Really Yes, it's the father's perfect wisdom Trust his leadership takes humility Persevere when it's small and hard no matter if you're accustomed to being anointed you're accustomed to people relating to you in the favor of God don't live there get accustomed to looking at God's eyes on you Live there live internally an internal life with him. Not just what people think about your life in God Oh, it really test us to be hidden in the quiver after we're ready paragraph K but I have Encouraging news The anointed through history they were prepared in the polished hidden season and they were even Hidden after they were anointed in various times Joseph Moses Joshua all of them David. I mean David was anointed Defeated Goliath was a national hero then ran around in caves for some years Joseph was anointed went into prison two times paragraph L He went twice After he had favor on his life. He went into two seasons of imprisonment But then suddenly God shot Joseph like an arrow Shot him because when you're in the quiver though, you're still hidden He could suddenly a suddenly of God can come tomorrow, but being shots left the goal. The goal is being obedient Being shot. We want to be shot as an arrow from God. That's not the highest goal. That's the second thing we want to walk in full obedience Even Jesus when he's fully anointed he skipped opportunities. I assure you John 6 15 All of Israel want to make him king after he's anointed he passes that opportunity. No, I'm not gonna be king I'm gonna die first. I will be king but later Well, you're anointed they John 6 15. They want to make him king. He refuses that opportunity and he's already anointed. He's a poly sterile He says now I'm still hiding in the quiver related to my kingship You don't get any more anointed than Jesus was he's still got an element of being hidden in the quiver Last point the end of paragraph L. Here's what Joseph teaches us Does he had favor loss favor had favor loss favor Julie Meyer calls it the Ferris wheel of favor, you know this season Everything is working next season. Whoa, everybody forgot me next season. Well, everybody likes me, you know, six to twelve eighteen Oh, no, everybody forgot me again. I love that. She calls it the Ferris wheel of favor. It just goes around But we live before his eyes What Joseph teaches us? Is that he could not be successfully prepared when he was when he was preoccupied by how his brothers were treating him Joseph said I'm not gonna take my reed by how I'm being treated. No, I am going to anchor my soul In the fact God's eyes are on me And it says in Psalm 105 verse 19. I don't have that on the notes Psalm 105 19 Joseph was tested by the Word of God. He's in prison He's being tested by the Word of God meaning. He says I'm counting on your eyes being on me while I'm being mistreated And it ended up it was true Amen Well, let's have a bunch of arrows stand up. I'm gonna ask the Lord to strengthen you in the perseverance of Christ If it was wise and glorious for Jesus how much more for us if the most humble man ever Walked in this kind of humility. Why not you and me? He wants to fill the earth with humility. That's what he's after. I Want to I'm saying yes We lock in to his eyes being on us. That's where we get our measurement. Well, we're all in one of those seasons Some of you said I'm still that branch on the tree that's being sold on right now, man I'm not even at the polish level Okay That's sewing will be over in a minute. Don't worry that hot water and sanding is coming next. Don't worry You're gonna be fine You'll be a good arrow Lord, we say yes to you. We just love you Jesus we love your example We love that you love humility if it's good enough for you it's good enough for me It's good enough for you. It's good enough for me Jesus. I want you just for the next moment or two sign up for perseverance and humility to live before his eyes Say Lord, I'm signing up. I'm gonna do this They may all just ignore me. Does it matter you're not ignoring me if you would like prayer I mean, we're all in this crucible at one level. I've never met anybody who has no issue But if you say, you know what for whatever reason I just want prayer tonight Related to this mostly or maybe something else say I just want prayer go ahead and come on up to these lines Come up to the front lines if you would And fill them up on the way back Lord, I want to be a polished arrow. I want to be faithful in the quiver I don't want to be preoccupied by how the brothers are treating me like Joseph. I want to succeed in your presence Lord, I ask you I'm gonna pray the apostolic prayer You would direct our hearts Into the love of God and the perseverance of Jesus direct our hearts to the Isaiah 49 grace of perseverance The grace of perseverance direct our hearts Lord release your glory Jesus release your glory Lord have your way in me. I'm living before your eyes Jesus here we are tonight We love your leadership Jesus We trust your leadership Jesus, oh we love You Here we are I say yes I say yes He's assaulting you with it's not worth it Doesn't matter anyway I'm disqualified. God doesn't care. That's another line all in vain Anointing enough calling identify the lie That's one of those colleges to our unity I expose it Expose it for what it is. It is worth It's not too hard in the grace of God It does matter You are watching It's worth it just confess the sentence or two It's tempting you Break your agreement with it, but actually say it to the Lord Say it out loud, even if you whisper to say hard to the end promised it will come to pass Some of it in this age a lot of it in the age to come. I'm gonna live forever that that matters to me Around a long time. It matters that this thing lasts forever So yes, Lord, I sign back up The Lord release your glory right now But I ask you that the spirit of heaviness I ask you that the pain of discouragement be lifted right now the wonder of your son's Humility we would consider him who endured The name of Jesus Release your glory Lord Show us your son. Oh, we consider him who endured we say no to the spirit of heaviness refuse The spirit of despair we say no to it it's What like some of you to come up let's pray for these folks that's the Lord to just pull that thorn out of their heart Jesus release your glory now Release your power now release living understanding Come reveal your glory Oh Speak truth to my heart tonight Lord The scripture says consider him who endured grace of perseverance. Jesus touched me I'm gonna be steady to the end All the way to the end no matter what happens I will stay We want to see your glory Oh It's your glory Oh Oh I will Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh