Resumen
Rev. Jon Ryan examines “Refuse to Give Up on God” through Luke 18, Galatians 6, Matthew 11, Hebrews 12, showing how going, faint, we’re shape a believer’s relationship with God, daily choices, and service to others.
Transcripción
Understanding Refuse to Give Up on God
It’s refusing to give up on God. There’s a phrase that comes up in the word faint not, that when we’re challenged, which we can all be challenged with so many different things, sometimes it’s finances, other times it may be health, could be relationships, but God doesn’t want us to faint or to be weary, to be worn down. If you take your Bibles and turn to Luke chapter 18, we can take a look at what Jesus Christ shared with his followers when the epistle of 3 John, 3 John verse 2, God’s heart is expressed in that, beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospered.
So there’s God’s heart, that’s his desire, is that we prosper, we abound, and all that the greatness of what life is holding for us. Jesus Christ told his followers that he was come, that they might have a life that was more than abundant. And in this Luke chapter 18 verse 1, it says, and he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray and not to faint.
So we are in this world, and there’s challenges, there’s a spiritual competition that exists, and we don’t have to succumb and be beaten by these challenges. We can rise above, and one of the things that we have to endeavor to rise above is we can go to God, we can pray. That’s what he was encouraging his people to do, Jesus Christ, the people that were following him is not to faint, but to pray.
Look at Galatians chapter 6. In this epistle of Galatians, written by the apostle Paul, he also was addressing this, and it says in verse 8, chapter 6 verse 8, for he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. So again, what I see in this verse is that there’s challenges to be weary, there’s opportunities where we could faint, but the direction that’s given here is that don’t faint, maintain your courage.
To faint is to lose heart and to begin to be anxious or fearful. There’s so many records in the Old Testament where God was encouraging his men and women to be strong and to be courageous and to put their trust and confidence in him. Go to Matthew, the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 11, please, Matthew 11.
We need to be sympathetic of one another and realize that we are in this together, we stand shoulder to shoulder with one another so that we can overcome the adversity, the challenges that arise. Earlier in the beginning of this year, the first week of January, I shared Never Give Up, and we looked at Job, and Job had certainly lost a lot. His family, all of his children were killed, he lost his abundance, everything that he invested in his life, all his flocks and everything that he had going as a shepherd, he even lost his physical health.
And he had his friends, some good friends that came over when they heard all this because they wanted to help him. And they ended up being called in the Word of God, miserable comforters, because instead of helping him, they began to say, well, he must have done something that deserved all this. Well, that’s not the case.
Job didn’t deserve all that happened. And it’s described in that book of Job that it was the spiritual competition, the adversary came and brought all this calamity on Job. And ultimately, he continued to remind himself and those men that came over that his God was bigger than this, and that his God would get him out of this.
And Job recovered from all that he lost when he prayed, when he prayed for his friends. And here, Jesus Christ in Matthew chapter 11 says in verse 28, “‘Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls.
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.'” So here, he encouraged people to come to him and that they would get the rest. When you’re weary, you need rest. And we certainly, at times, need rest.
You know, when you’re ill, often that’s one of the greatest things you can do is just pull out of all your activities and get some good, solid rest. Allow your body to regenerate whatever needs to happen and to get healed up, and we rest. Well, at times in life, it may seem you don’t even have a second to spare where you can rest.
El fundamento bíblico
And that’s where we go to God. And then we also go to his word. Look at Hebrews chapter 12.
Again, regarding Jesus Christ, Hebrews chapter 12, sometimes we can be challenged to carry the weight of the world in our minds. We may be, because of mistakes we have made, sins that we have committed, things that we did wrong, we can feel guilty, we can feel condemned. Other times, it’s just the challenges of life that come up, and they can just weigh us down.
And here in Hebrews 12, it says in verse 1, “…wherefore seeing we also are encompassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses.” So what this is saying right there is that, look at the word, the cloud of witnesses refers to the previous chapter, where all these men and women of old were listed and how they put their trust and confidence in God. So we have these examples. When we get challenged, look at the word.
Look at these people that went before us that are recorded on the pages of our Bibles. It goes on to say, “…let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.” So sometimes we just need to put down that weight that we’re carrying in our minds. Stop feeling badly about the mistakes you’ve made, and just put that down and go forward.
Then here’s how to do it. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. So we can pray, we can go to the word, and then we remember that we’re called a God.
We’re born again. We have the hope awaiting us. The worst that can happen is that we die, and then we’ve got all eternity with God.
Jesus Christ got to that place where he was able to see what was in front of him, the hope that he had. And then verse 3 says, “…for consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.” So there’s a great place to go when you’re challenged. You just consider him.
Consider what he went through. We just saw that he said, my yoke is easy, my burden is light. Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
We can see in the word the way we can go. Look at Psalm 119, Psalms 119, a very long Psalm, the longest Psalm. And in Psalm 119, verse 130, Psalm 119, 130 says, the entrance of thy words giveth light.
It gives an understanding unto the simple. At times when we’re getting challenged to faith, when we’re weary, it can be like darkness is settling over us. And when we come to the word, it says the word gives us light.
The word can lighten up and push away the darkness so that we’re able to go forward with confidence, not discouragement. Go to Isaiah, please. Psalm Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Psalm of Solomon.
Ejemplos y lecciones espirituales
And you’re going to get to Isaiah. And we’re going to go to Isaiah chapter 40, please. And towards the end of this chapter, Isaiah 40, we’re going to look at verse 28.
Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary. God doesn’t get tired. God, who created the world, he doesn’t faint.
There is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint. And to them that have no might, he increases strength.
How encouraging is that? That God will fill us with power. If your tank is running low, as can sometimes happen, well, God will fill it up. You know, if you start to have a low tank, you’re running close to E, and you’re on a trip, you can begin to get anxious.
Oh my gosh, are we going to make it? And you’re wondering where the next gas station is where you can fuel up. Well, it says, God will give us strength. We just turn to him.
Okay, God, I need more power. I need more strength. And he’s right there.
He giveth power to the faint. And to them that have no might, he increases strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary.
And the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles.
They shall run and not be weary. And they shall walk and not faint. It’s just turning to God, and he’ll take care of us.
So let’s look at the example. If you go to the book of Acts, here’s an example of one that was challenged. And how he did this.
He prayed, he went to the Word, he knew who God was and what God had in store for him. It’s the Apostle Paul. We’re going to pick this up in chapter 27 and verse 5. Paul has been, because of a mistake he made, he’s imprisoned.
Fe en Acción
He’s been imprisoned for two years when we pick up this record. And he’s a Roman citizen, so he’s appealed to Caesar in Rome. And he’s going to be transported from the Jerusalem area.
He’s in Caesarea at this point that we pick it up to Rome, where he can stand trial as a Roman citizen. And it says, we’re going to pick it up in verse 5. He’s being transported to Rome. Verse 5, and when we had sailed over the sea of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, a city of Lycia, and there the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing into Italy.
And he put us there in. So he’s a prisoner. The centurion is a soldier that has the authority over 100 men.
And he’s the escort, bringing Paul and other prisoners to Rome. They’ve got passage on a ship. It’s a ship that carries goods.
It’s not just transporting passengers. They’ve paid their way, I’m sure. And they’re being transported across the Mediterranean Sea.
And they’re heading towards Rome, ultimately. Now, Paul, in this case, he had caused this problem upon himself, because God had tried to tell him all along the way, don’t go to Jerusalem in the previous chapters of Acts. But he somehow got to the place where he went to Jerusalem, despite all the warnings.
We may do that at times. But then we can’t just linger in condemnation. We can’t just say, oh, well, I guess my fate is I’m going to have to stay here in jail or I’m going to have to deal with these consequences for the rest of my life.
That doesn’t have to be the case. Look at verse 13. So here they’re on the ship.
And in verse 13, and when the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, loosing thence, they sailed close by Crete. So they’re on their way across the Mediterranean Sea. And it’s a dangerous time to travel.
There’s times when the weather is good for traveling and time is not. Here today in New Hampshire, it’s snowing. It’s maybe not a good time to get out on the roads, as it would be in August, when the sun is shining and everything’s clear.
So here they’re at a bad time for traveling, but the south wind, the warmer wind is blowing. They think, well, we can make it to a place that’s going to be better during the wintertime. As a matter of fact, if you read the previous verse, verse 12, and because the haven was not commodious to winter in, the more parted bys to depart thence also, if by any means they might attain to Venus and there to winter, which is a haven of Crete that lie toward the southwest and northwest.
Caminando con amor y confianza
So it’s winter there. And they want to try and get to a better location if they’re going to have to spend some months waiting for their time to travel again. So they’ve got the south wind blowing and they’re moving forward.
Look down in verse. Well, actually, what I’m going to do here is I’m going to read to you from the Amplified because the Amplified describes this in such a great way. So you can look at your Bibles.
I’m going to read from verse 14 down to verse 19 from the Amplified Bible. Verse 14. But soon afterward, this is after they took off when the south wind had blown softly, but soon afterward, a violent wind called Eroquedon, a northeastern, a temperature’s windstorm like a typhoon, came rushing down from the island.
And when the ship was caught in it and could not head against the wind to gain stability, we gave up and letting her drift were driven along. We ran under the shelter of a small island 25 miles south of Crete called Quada. And with great difficulty, we were able to get the ship’s skiff on the deck and secure it.
After hoisting the skiff on board, they used support lines for frapping to undergird and brace the ship’s hull. And fearing that they might run aground on the shallows of Citrus off the north coast of Africa, they let down the sea anchor and lowered the sails and were driven along backwards with the bow into the wind. On the next day, as we were being violently tossed about by the storm and taking on water, they began to jettison the cargo.
And on the third day, they threw the ship’s tackle, spare lines, blocks, miscellaneous equipment, overboard with their own hands to further reduce the weight. So I love how that describes in detail how these men were doing everything they knew to get through this storm. They first were undergirding the ship.
They were trying to keep it secure. They’re trying to let the winds drive us out of the storm. You know, these hurricanes, we see the maps on the weather stations today, and they just move across sometimes very slowly, and they can cover a big swath of area, many miles.
And they were in the clutches of the storm, and they were trying to get out, and they threw off, first they threw off the cargo. This was what the owner of the ship was going to make money with, but they’re trying to save their lives. They threw off the cargo.
Then they threw off the tackling, everything else that was necessary to, that was not necessary, but everything else that was spare lines, blocks, miscellaneous equipment. They were trying to lighten the ship with everything they knew. Now I’m going to go back to the King James.
Verse 20. And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away. Well, they’re fainting.
They have done everything they know to get out of the clutches of the storm, and it says, for many days, they hadn’t seen sun, moon, or stars. It’s been a pretty dismal time, and they’re just fainting in their minds. They have lost heart.
Aplicar la enseñanza en la vida diaria
They’ve lost courage. They don’t know what else to do, and all they can see in front of them is that we’re not going to make it. All hope that we should be saved was taken away.
Verse 21. But Paul has not fainted. Paul has prayed.
He’s gone to the word. He remembers God and who God is and who he is, and he’s going to come on deck and address the whole crowd in the storm. Somehow he’s able to get their attention.
Verse 21. But after long abstinence, Paul stood forth in the midst of them and said, Sirs, you should have hearkened unto me and not have loose from Crete to gain this harm and loss. He apparently told them not to leave the place that they had landed, but they had the soft wind blowing gently and so they thought they could make it.
So he reminds them, I told you not to go. Verse 22. And now I exhort you to be of good cheer, for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but of the ship.
For, this is why, there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am and whom I serve, saying, fear not, Paul, thou must be brought before Caesar, and though God had given thee all them that sail with thee. See, what Paul had done with his mind to not faint, to not lose heart, like all these men with him had, is he remembered who he was and who he served. He knew that he belonged to God and that his life was to serve God.
And that’s the mindset that opened the door for him to hear from God, to not be afraid that they’re all going to make it. Verse 25. Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer, for I believe God that it shall be, even as it was told me, albeit we must be cast upon a certain island.
So he’s saying, we’re going to make it. You’re going to make it. So be of good cheer, which is to get your thoughts in order.
See, so look at verse 35, just so you know, they did make it. Verse 35. And when he had thus spoken, he took bread and gave thanks to God and the presence of them all.
And when he had broken it, he began to eat. Then were they all of good cheer. And they also took some meat.
And we were in all, in the ship, 203 scored 16 souls, 276 men. God saves the lives of all of them because one man didn’t lose heart. Didn’t lose courage.
Una vida moldeada por la Palabra de Dios
And verse 43 says, they all made it. Verse 43. But the Centurion willing to save Paul kept them from their purpose.
As the ship began to break up near an island, the soldier said, should we kill the prisoners? And the Centurion says no. And commanded they, that they which could swim should cast themselves first into the sea and get to land. And the rest, some on boards, some on broken pieces of the ship.
And so it came to pass that they escaped all safe to land. Amazing. That’s what can happen.
That’s what we look forward to is when we get challenged and we’re weary and we’re challenged to faint, to lose heart. We go to God in prayer. We go to his word.
And we remember who he is. And let’s close in 1 John. If you go towards the back of your Bible to 1 John and chapter 5. 1 John 5. And verse 14, it says, and this is the confidence that we have in him.
That if we ask anything according to his will, he hearth us. And if we know that he hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. So we can have confidence, even in the face of adversity, even when we’re challenged or tempted to faint and be weary.
We just go to God in prayer. And say, okay, God, you knew this was coming. Show me the way out.
And then you remind yourself that he’s always answered people that have asked this, that he will answer you and give you the way to walk. So Father, I thank you for your goodness, for your grace, for your love, for us. And that we can come to you with our hearts open, that we don’t have to lose heart to faint.
We don’t have to be so weary that we can’t go on, but that we can continue to look to you and remember how you’ve always faithfully taken care of your men and women as they turn to you. Thanks that we ultimately will be gathered together with you and that we have that to look forward to. No matter what happens, that’s our salvation.
You tell us in your word that this challenge or these challenges that we face are but for an instant. They don’t even compare to the wonderful glory we’re going to have together with you forever. So I thank you Father for continuing to give us the strength and the courage to move through any adversity.
Thanks in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Puntos Clave
- So we can pray, we can go to the word, and then we remember that we’re called a God.
- And towards the end of this chapter, Isaiah 40, we’re going to look at verse 28.
- And it says, we’re going to pick it up in verse 5.
- That’s what we look forward to is when we get challenged and we’re weary and we’re challenged to faint, to lose heart.
- So we can have confidence, even in the face of adversity, even when we’re challenged or tempted to faint and be weary.
Preguntas frecuentes
What is the main message of “Refuse to Give Up on God”?
Rev. Jon Ryan examines “Refuse to Give Up on God” through Luke 18, Galatians 6, Matthew 11, Hebrews 12, showing how going, faint, we’re shape a believer’s relationship with God, daily choices, and service to others.
¿Qué pasajes bíblicos son fundamentales para esta enseñanza?
The teaching draws especially from Luke 18, Galatians 6, Matthew 11, Hebrews 12, Psalm 119.
¿Cómo pueden los creyentes aplicar esta enseñanza?
So we can have confidence, even in the face of adversity, even when we’re challenged or tempted to faint and be weary.
Referencias bíblicas
Luke 18; Galatians 6; Matthew 11; Hebrews 12; Psalm 119; Psalms 119
Este texto se elaboró a partir del audio o documento original de la enseñanza. Por favor, verifique las referencias bíblicas con su propia Biblia.
