(soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) - Good morning, church family.

Happy Lord's Day. We will now begin our service. (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) Let's sing before the throne. ♪ Before the throne of God above ♪ ♪ I have a strong and perfect plea ♪ ♪ A great high priest whose name is love ♪ ♪ Whoever lives and pleads for me ♪ ♪ My name is painted on his hands ♪ ♪ My name is printed on his heart ♪ ♪ I know that while in heaven he stands ♪ ♪ No tongue can make me as divine ♪ ♪ No tongue can make me as divine ♪ (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) ♪ When Satan tempts ♪ ♪ When Satan tempts me to despair ♪ ♪ And takes me up and fills me with fear ♪ ♪ So that I'll never see the man ♪ ♪ Who will enter on my seat ♪ ♪ Because of sin this Savior died ♪ ♪ My sinful soul is counted free ♪ ♪ For God the justice satisfied ♪ ♪ To the God that I believe ♪ ♪ To the God that I believe ♪ (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) ♪ Before there was peace in heaven ♪ ♪ There was always righteousness ♪ ♪ And a changeable life ♪ ♪ In the glory of peace ♪ ♪ For if somehow I cannot die ♪ ♪ My soul is purchased by this blood ♪ ♪ My life of sin will somehow ♪ ♪ Replace my Savior with God ♪ ♪ For if somehow I cannot die ♪ ♪ My soul is purchased by this blood ♪ ♪ My life of sin will somehow ♪ ♪ Replace my Savior with God ♪ ♪ Replace my Savior with God ♪ ♪ Replace my Savior with God ♪ (soft piano music) - All right, good morning.

Welcome to Prairie Community Church. Let me get to a few announcements before we get started. First of all, today is Women's Softball Fellowship that's happening in the park in Orange. So if you are playing or if you're going to go watch, it's starting at two o'clock to five o'clock, okay?

And for those of you who are playing, I think they're meeting at 1.30 just to give you a heads up. This coming week is all church praise and prayer, and so we don't have regular Bible study. We have, instead, we're gonna be having our praise and prayer time this Friday, so please try to come a little bit earlier so we can start right at 7.30.

India Pastor Support, if you are interested in supporting them, $50 a month for the next year, please sign up for that, or you give a one-time donation of 600, and again, these fees will go to support our village pastors out in India, okay? All right, so there's a few things.

One, the cleanup team has asked. They need more volunteers for June. I think part of it is because our Bible study is over now, but if you are part of a small group or home group that has not participated in that yet, we ask you to go sign up.

Or even if you haven't, they said that they need more people in June, so as you're exiting, you'll see a table set up outside, so it says "Cleanup Team," and go to that table, and if you sign up your name, and even if it's just one Sunday, just let them know that you can help out, and they usually do it before service on Sundays or after service, and so just sign your name up, and they'll give you instructions on that.

So as you're exiting, you'll see a table out there. Along with that, the VBS sign-ups are also taking place, so please go to that table outside to sign up your children. Then also for family retreat, that's coming up in August 16th to the 18th, June 2nd. Next Sunday is the last day for early registration, so after that, it's going to be regular registration, meaning the price is going to go up, okay?

So please sign up for that. Again, all of these things are outside. As you are exiting, you'll see a table outside, so please sign up for that, and then one last thing, the Bible study. I know we just ended, and the completion of Bible study isn't going to be until end of August, but we need plenty of time to prepare for the small group because the growing number of people in our church, we need to know exactly how many people that we need to prepare the home group and the Bible study for, and so please sign up for that as well.

I don't think there's a table for that outside, right? Yeah, but if you go online, just sign up for it. If you know that you're going to, please sign up for it. That'll help us prepare way in advance, okay? I think that is it for this morning, and we're going to do an offering, and then afterwards, our sister Erica Shin is going to come up, give her testimony, and be baptized this morning.

All right, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for who you are. We thank you for your perseverance with us. We thank you for the privilege that we have to come and worship you. Lord, whatever it is that we have been entangled with, our hearts, our minds, that you would help us this morning that we would come in your presence with reverence, with joy, with thanksgiving, and all that we do and all that we give may be an overflow of your powerful work in us.

I pray, Lord God, that even this giving may be a reflection of our heart and our worship and devotion to you. I pray for wisdom for the leaders to be able to handle your finances with integrity and may it be multiplied, Lord God, for the sake of your kingdom.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) - Let us all rise and let's spend a few moments just to greet the neighbors around us. (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Good morning, church family, and happy Sunday.

My name is Erica, and this is my testimony. Like many others, I grew up in the church, but was not genuinely saved until much later. I called myself a Christian growing up because I falsely assumed attending church, believing in the mere existence of God, and adhering to worldly morals were equivalent to being a believer.

With this false sense of security, I'd even got baptized before in middle school. In actuality, I couldn't have been further from God and the truth. Looking back, I viewed church as purely a social setting without taking into consideration any sort of personal relationship with God. I knew about God, but didn't truly know his character as I had no desire to spend time with him in word or in prayer.

I couldn't truly comprehend his love and grace, and instead thought salvation was earned through works. I used what I perceived as my own upstanding moral track record to be legalistic and act like a Pharisee toward others. I was extremely prideful and judgmental, especially toward my peers at church as I held those who professed being Christian to an unfairly high standard without examining if I was even one myself.

When my peers naturally didn't meet my impossibly high expectations of moral perfection, I condemned them and grew embittered with the church for being hypocritical. What I failed to realize was that I was no better than them because at the end of the day, I was righteous and was unrepentant of my sins.

But by the time I graduated high school, I was so disappointed with my experience with the church that I decided Christianity wasn't for me. However, God had other plans. A couple months into college, I stumbled across a fellowship. Despite my past bitterness, being in a church setting felt familiar and comforting in a season of transition and homesickness, so I found myself staying and started attending church regularly again.

While I was initially drawn to the fellowship for personal reasons, through the grace of God, he slowly opened my eyes to recognize the gravity of my sin and my desperate need for a savior while I was there. It's hard to pinpoint the exact moment when I was saved, but I was reconciled to Christ through a continual series of convictions and other moments of spiritual growth that steadily unfolded throughout the course of college.

Little by little, I learned more about God and his perfect, loving, merciful character, and he graciously instilled a desire in me to embrace and pursue a relationship with him. After I graduated college and moved back home, God brought me to Berean, where he has been growing me even closer to him for the past two years.

It has been a humbling but sweet and sanctifying journey as God has been teaching me how to joyfully submit to his will. One of those ways is through baptism. As I mentioned before, I was baptized before in my youth, but looking back, I don't think I was a genuine believer.

However, God has been putting it on my heart to revisit this topic and really take the time to think through and examine the state of my heart back then. Looking back, I hadn't genuinely accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior, and I had no repentance of my sins. After much prayer and reflection, I felt convicted to get baptized again, this time as a genuine believer, which leads me to this morning.

I'm excited to get baptized today to indicate my full obedience to his will and desire to use my life for his glory. I want to close with Romans 12, 1-2. "There I urge you, brethren, "by the mercies of God, "to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice "acceptable to God, "which is your spiritual service of worship.

"And do not be conformed to this world, "but be transformed by the renewing of your mind "so that you may prove what the will of God is, "that which is good and acceptable and perfect." Thank you. (applause) (water splashing) - Erika, do you understand when you're going into the water, you're being united to Christ's death?

When you're coming out, you're being united to his resurrected life? - Yes. - And I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. (water splashing) (applause) - All right, thank you, Erika, for that encouraging testimony. If you can turn your Bibles with me to Luke 8, and I will read starting from verse 11 out of the NASB, Luke 8.

Starting from verse 11. "Now the parable is this. "The seed is the word of God. "Those beside the road are those who have heard. "Then the devil comes and takes away "the word from their hearts "so that they will not believe and be saved. "Those on the rocky soil are those who, "when they hear, receive the word with joy, "and these have no firm root.

"They believe for a while, "and in time of temptation fall away. "The seed which fell among the thorns, "these are the ones who have heard. "As they go on their way, "they are choked with worries and riches "and pleasures of this life, "and bring no fruit to maturity. "But the seed in the good soil, "these are the ones who have heard the word "in an honest and good heart, "and hold it fast and bear fruit with perseverance." Let's pray.

Father, we pray for understanding. We pray for eager hearts that we may receive it to be molded and to apply according to Your will and purpose. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. If you've been at our church for a while, you probably have played this game, "Two Truths and a Lie," right?

You guys know that game? Pastor Mark actually likes playing that game. So when newcomers come to the church, it's one of the things that we play to get to know each other better. And basically, "Two Truths and a Lie" is you tell two lies and one truth, or the other way, and try to figure out which one's a truth and which one's a lie.

So I'm going to play this game with you, and you tell me which one is true and which one is a lie, okay? One, I played center for a high school varsity team when I was in high school. Don't laugh. Number two, I was a golf pro in college.

Then I gave it up after college. And third, I was the first one to build a computer back in the '80s among my friends. I didn't invent it, but I built it back in the '80s. Now, which one's true and which one's a lie? Okay, how many of you think that number one is a truth?

Ha, you liars. All right, that's a lie, all right. How many of you think it's number two, that I was a pro golfer before back in college? Okay, how many of you believe that it's number three? Okay, so the rest of you think I'm lying about everything, right? Which would be right, right?

All lies. Now, if you look at what I said, you know, obviously, center for high school. Are you kidding? That I was the center of which high school was this, right? So whether you know me or not, it's pretty obvious that there's no way I was gonna play center in any high school, right?

Maybe even not in junior high school, right? Two, golf. Yeah, it's a possibility, maybe, right? You could play. I mean, some of you who may have seen me play golf say, "Wait, that guy played golf," right? So it's pretty obvious it wasn't number two. Three, maybe a possibility. Why not?

Back in the '80s when it first started coming in, you know, could be a possibility. But anybody who knows me even a little, right, knows that that's not my strength. In fact, among our pastors, I'm the computer illiterate. I still write my sermons on paper and I have to transfer it over because I picked up computers so late.

So all of these things are lies, right? But depending on how well you know me, you would have known that. I think Pastor Nate would have, you know, known immediately that none of these things were true, right? We live in a culture today that if somebody claims to be something, that we're not allowed to question it, right?

If they genuinely believe it. What if I told you that I genuinely believe this? I genuinely believe I was a center. I genuinely believe that I was a pro golfer. I genuinely believe, like, I'm convinced that I was the first to create the computer among my friends. You would laugh at me.

It doesn't matter what you genuinely believe because it's not true. Again, we live in a culture today if a guy in every way is a man and he says he's a female and if we question them, we're a bigot. I mean, it's just gone mad, our culture, right? What is true is true, what is false is false.

But I'm not worried about what's happening outside in the culture, right? I mean, they don't believe God and they've given into just pursuing that and as ridiculous as that is, I'm not as concerned about what's happening out there. What I'm concerned about is what's happening in the church. We live in a culture where if somebody who's acting like a duck, smelling like a duck, talks like a duck and then he says he's a chicken and if we don't give the benefit of the doubt okay, if you say you're a duck, you're going to be a duck.

That we're being judgmental, we're legalists. If you don't act like a Christian, you don't live like a Christian, you don't talk like a Christian, you don't sleep like a Christian and they say, "Are you a Christian?" How dare you question me? How dare you? If I say I am, if I believe that I am, who are you to question me?

The parable that we're looking at, that's exactly what Jesus is doing because the multitudes are coming to him in numbers, in hundreds, in thousands and he is cutting right through that and he says, "Many of these people who are coming to me are confessing me, but they're not true believers." And he said, "Repeat it.

Not everyone who calls me Lord, Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven. Not everybody who's coming to me and wanting to see me, be near me have genuine faith and eventually they will fall out and you will recognize them." And he's preparing his disciples to decipher between true believers and false believers.

And so again, we live in a culture today if somebody is acting like a duck, talking like a duck, smelling like a duck and he said, "Maybe you're a duck." How dare you? Tell me how that is so much different than what's going on in the world today. The Bible makes it very clear.

In fact, the text that we've been looking at has been telling us how to identify true believers. The first soil, it comes and falls on the side of the road and because there's no soil on it, it dies immediately. They reject Christ, "I don't believe this, this is nonsense" and they walk away.

The second soil falls on rocky soil but because it doesn't have any foundation they receive it immediately with joy but because there's no root eventually it'll wither and it dies and the church in many cases are filled with the second soil people. Third soil is a little bit more difficult.

They receive it, they begin to grow, it looks like but the weeds and the thorns eventually grow with it and it says the worries and concerns of life begin to choke it and the Word of God is no longer bearing fruit and they also eventually wither and die and that's where we have the problem.

We have people who are basically withered and die and no longer following the teachings of Christ and yet he said, "I'm not sure, you're not acting like a Christian, you're not talking like a Christian, you're not behaving like a Christian, are you a Christian? How dare you question me?" Well, that's exactly what Jesus was saying.

The good soil are the people who hear the Word of God and with an honest and good conscience they hear the Word of God. In other words, they get convicted by their sin and then they receive it, they repent and it says they hold it fast meaning that they begin to get connected to the soil, they begin to grow and then it says last week that they bear fruit.

He said those are the factors that determine if somebody is a genuine believer or not. Repentance, acceptance, growth, bearing fruit and then the final one, he says they will persevere in bearing this fruit. I'm going to give you three things about perseverance and I believe that this is the greatest evidence of salvation is the perseverance according to Scripture.

One, the ultimate proof of salvation is our perseverance. Ultimate proof of salvation is our perseverance. Not somebody who started the race, again, the church is filled with people, it's like, "Oh, I remember 10 years ago, 15 years ago, 20 years ago." Not somebody who started the race but someone who finishes it.

1 John 2, verse 19, it says, "They went out from us but they were not really of us. For if they had been of us, they would have remained with us but they went out so that it would be shown that they are all not of us." He said the proof, whether somebody really is part of the universal church is a child of God is that they persevere and they remain.

When you look at the text, it says they left us because they were not of us. Them leaving proved that they were never really of us to begin with. In other words, their not persevering revealed where their faith really was because there's all kinds of reasons why somebody would come to church.

For social reasons, out of habit, tradition, family loyalty, there's all kinds of reasons why people come to church. But it says eventually, if you do not have true faith, you will not persevere. Look at that text and it says, "Well, I never left." Is this talking about somebody who stays in the church?

As long as you stay in the church, that's proof that you're a Christian. Obviously, that's not what he's referring to. Let's understand what perseverance means. He says in verse 15, "And hold it fast and bear fruit with perseverance." Perseverance and bearing fruit go hand in hand. He's not just talking about somebody who never leaves the church.

It's obvious if somebody leaves the church, but you could be in the church and never bear fruit. Perseverance is connected to bearing fruit. The word for persevere in the Greek is "hupomone." The word "hupomone" basically means to remain under pressure. To remain under pressure. When you are tested, you persevere, just like it says in the book of James, chapter 1.

Persevere in pure joy when you encounter trials of many kinds. Because testing of your faith will produce perseverance. And perseverance, when it is complete, causes you to have character. Complete in every way. So he says, a genuine believer, when he is tested, actually causes them to have more and growing and pure faith.

But an unbeliever, who is just hanging around at the church, who is holding on to a form of godliness, coming for tradition or superstition, as soon as a relationship goes sour, as soon as the church becomes inconvenient and it doesn't do whatever it is they think they want it to do, they're done.

They might not be physically done because there's too much contribution, too much price to pay to leave the church. It's much easier for a nominal Christian just to hang on so that they can benefit from the culture of the church without ever really knowing Christ. So the word for persevere means to continue under this pressure.

And so in some of your translations that word for persevere is translated patience. You don't need patience when things are going great. What do you need patience for? If everything is going according to plan, you don't need patience. Patience requires when you are tested and you are tempted to move and you choose to stay.

That's the word patience and that's the word here for perseverance that in the midst of trial that you continue to bear fruit and that's why the distinction between a Christian and a non-Christian it uses the word overcome which is another word for perseverance. 1 John 5, 4-5 for whatever is born of God overcomes the world and this is the victory that has overcome the world our faith.

Who is the one who overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. So in other words he says if you believe that Jesus is the Son of God you will overcome the world and what he means by overcoming the world he means that you will not give in to the temptation of the world.

That your life is not in the pattern of the world. That's what the word overcome means and again it is the same word or understanding as the word hupomenai to remain under to continue. In the book of Revelation there's seven letters that are written to the churches and at the end of these seven letters each one of them describing the concern that Jesus has over these churches so the only one that doesn't receive rebuke is the church of Philadelphia and they're bearing fruit but they're under heavy persecution and at the end of these letters he says he who overcomes he who overcomes in other words he who overcomes this problem in Revelation 2-7 you know the church where he rebukes them for forsaking their first love that on the surface that they're doing all the right things with right doctrine but he says you have forsaken your first love and he says if you do not repent and redo the things that you did at first he said I will remove your lampstand and then he says to the churches to him who overcomes I will grant to eat of the tree of the life which is in the paradise of God so here when he says to overcome he's talking about somebody who recognizes that you're just going through the motion that Christ is not your first love so he who overcomes that he says is evidence of genuine faith church of Smyrna Revelation 2-11 in the midst of heavy persecution he said he who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches he who overcomes by the second death and then in church of Pergamum overcome the temptation to compromise with the world he says he who overcomes this temptation will be saved Thyatira he who overcomes the temptation of wrong doctrine and sexual sin he says he will have confidence that he will be saved in the church of Sardis he who overcomes temptations to fall spiritually asleep that you have a reputation of being alive but in God's eyes you are dead he says he who overcomes that will be saved church of Philadelphia is the church the only church that has no rebuke and he says if you overcome temptation to quit and you continue in the context of persecution and continue in your good works you will overcome and then the church of Laodicea that we know very well to overcome the temptation of self-reliance and lukewarmness so the idea of just remaining in your seats and not denying Christ and just continuing to come to church the idea of perseverance just like he says in verse 15 he perseveres in bearing fruit perseverance in doing right perseverance in pursuing righteousness the greatest evidence of the genuineness of our faith is not that we started this race but that we finished this race in Matthew 24 10-13 he says at that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another many false prophets will arise and will mislead many because the lawlessness is increased most people's love will grow cold but the one who endures or overcomes to the end he will be saved he says because the increase of wickedness most people's love will grow cold now when Jesus says this and he's warning the church that there's going to come a time before he comes that this is going to happen you're going to see evil in such a way that you're going to be shocked and I think we're living in that time now it is shocking what they consider righteousness it is shocking that you would allow a full grown male in a locker room with a three year old and then if you question that you're the bigot the bible tells us that there will come a time when these things will happen and it is today but he didn't say this to warn us about the world he said this to warn the church that when you see that happening most people's love will grow cold he was warning the church in the context of wickedness that is happening outside be concerned with your own heart that you do not grow cold that you do not compromise that you yourself are not affected by what is happening but the one who endures to the end he will be saved the one who perseveres fights against it and there is a place where you and I are living in a country where we have a voice where we can speak we can vote we can protest and we ought to because we live in a free country that is how the system in the United States works so Christians who stay silent and do not vote have no voice but the primary concern is with the church because the sanctification and the salvation of the world is not going to happen simply because we protest because the primary way that Christ has brought salvation to this world is through the church if the church acts like the church he says that the greatest evidence of salvation is perseverance in righteousness perseverance in bearing fruit perseverance in the midst of trials that is number one number two you may listen to that and say well how am I going to do this are we like the Jehovah's Witnesses now we got to prove we got to prove our salvation with our works he says no you will persevere and the reason why you will persevere is because the scripture says that he's the one who justifies and he's the one who will sanctify we will persevere because God is the one who will cause us to persevere in Philippians 1.6 it says I am confident of this very thing that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus he will perfect it if genuine work has begun if genuine faith is what you have and he justified you he will sanctify you he will cause you to persevere in John chapter 10 27-28 my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give them eternal life to them and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand you notice here it says my sheep should follow me he says no they will follow me I don't know if you've spent any time with sheep right I'm pretty sure that most of us have not I remember this during back in college the college ministry I belong to went up to Oregon and we spent two weeks at a retreat center and they just happened to raise sheep they had about a hundred sheep and all the brothers you know we had to go down to the field and we did quiet time for two weeks basically watching the sheep at least I did and there's two things that I learned about these sheep is they are extremely dumb they're dumb and they get startled so quickly and you just snap your finger and one of them gets it you don't need all of them startled one of them gets startled and everybody just starts running right and so you can so it's you know if you have a mischievous personality like mine it was just fun watching them and there's a story of how this man who had a sheep farm and how he lost a hundred of his sheep because one of the sheep ended up going to the cliff and slipped and jumped off and as a result all the other sheep started following and they jumped off right and the parents always say if your friends jump off the cliff are you going to jump off the cliff and the sheep says yes right and that's what happened and the only reason that the others didn't die is because they landed on top of the sheep that's how dumb they are they're dumb right number two the second thing that I learned is they're completely helpless they're completely helpless so if a wolf or a prey comes I mean because they don't know how to defend themselves that's why when they hear the shepherd's voice the shepherd's voice isn't simply to be alive it's to be near the shepherd so Jesus is using that illustration to say my sheep who sometimes is dumb and is very helpless when they hear my voice they will follow not only will they follow it says I will give them eternal life they will never perish they will never perish because our shepherd will protect us I will snatch him out of my hand he says you will persevere if Jesus is your shepherd in John 6 37 all that the father gives me will come to me whoever the father gives me will come to me and the one who comes to me I will certainly not cast out I'm not going to lose them if the father gave me them I will not lose them Romans 8 38 to 39 for I am convinced that the Lord will not cast us out if he will not cast us out if he will not cast us out if he will not 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