Pressing on for the Prize of Perseverance

REFLECTION QUOTES

“Too many Christians are doctrinally malnourished so that any bacteria or virus of heresy that comes their way wreaks havoc in their lives.”

~Conrad Mbewe, Zambian pastor and educator

“Heaven is not here, it’s There. If we were given all we wanted here, our hearts would settle for this world rather than the next. God is forever luring us up and away from this one, wooing us to Himself and His still invisible Kingdom, where we will certainly find what we so keenly long for.”

~Elisabeth Elliot (1926-2015), author, speaker and missionary

Q. 79. Can true believers fall away from the state of grace because of their imperfections and the many temptations and sins they are overtaken with?

A. Because of: 1) the unchangeable love of God 2) his decree and covenant to give them perseverance 3) their inseparable union with Christ 4) his continual intercession for them 5) and the Spirit and seed of God abiding in them—true believers can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but are kept by the power of God through faith to salvation.

~Westminster Larger Catechism (1647; updated 2017 by CRPC Pittsburgh)

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think, say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company… a church… a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we embrace for that day. We cannot change our past… we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play the one string we have, and that is our attitude… I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so, it is with you… we are in charge of our attitudes.”

~Chuck Swindoll, pastor and author

“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”

~Viktor Frankl (1905-1997), Austrian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor

SERMON OUTLINE

Introduction
What perseverance is?
How perseverance comes to us?
Where perseverance leads?
Conclusion

SERMON PASSAGE

James 1:1-4 & 12 (ESV)

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,

To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion:

Greetings.

2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

9 Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, 10 and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. 11 For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.