 Okay welcome back everyone we will keep talking about patience and endurance so I was saying that in order for us to receive the promises of God we need patience and we must also endure. So here are two words so we said patience and the other one is endurance so they are actually slightly different slightly different in their meaning patience is to how do you say like you calmly continue and you wait right so that is patience we all understand that now endurance means bearing up under pressure so it's something like the other day we did the arm wrestle you remember arm wrestle so in that arm wrestle think about the person who's losing okay the one is experiencing a lot of pressure from the other person so they are losing but imagine that they don't give up whatever energy they have even though they seem to be losing they are putting all the energy to resist resist that other stronger person that is endurance endurance is where you put all your strength to not give up you may feel like you're losing but still you're putting all your energy and you're pressing against the pressure that's coming at you that is endurance so we need both when we talk about faith and you know fulfilling what God has in mind for us so being patient is calmly, trustingly waiting on God but endurance is to be bear up under pressure and we all said that you know there are many reasons for delays and most of the time there is a season in which the fulfillment will come so we have to wait for God's season there is a there is a time for every purpose at the book of Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes 3 verses 1 to 8 tell us that right there is a time for every purpose so we have to wait for that correct time for the promise of God to be fulfilled now that waiting we understand patience so you wait for the right time and be patient but let's talk about endurance endurance I know that the online students can't see very clearly but you know just continue to follow along with me can somebody read 1st Peter chapter 8 1st Peter chapter 5 verse 8 and verse 9 1st Peter 5 verse 8 and verse 9 1st Peter chapter 5 verse 8 be sober be vigilant because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour verse 9 resist him steadfast in the faith knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world okay so Peter is saying that we have an enemy and that enemy he's like a roaring lion meaning he's waiting okay roaring lion or you can even imagine something like a hungry lion waiting to devour waiting to defeat every believer but verse 9 he says resist him what does he say Abhishek can you read that again verse 9 please resist him steadfast in the faith knowing that the same suffering are experienced by your brotherhood in the world okay yeah steadfast in the faith okay so what Peter is saying is we need to be we should resist so the devil will come to attack us stop us but we must resist like that arm wrestle resist him steadfast in the faith so with faith we can endure don't give up on the devil because we will win if we don't give up sometimes the only thing that we have to do is be like don't give up just be there be consistent okay now why do we need this why do we you know really need this because there are going to be situations where you know all kinds of things may happen and endurance is required on our part now endurance when we talk about endurance we needed under three circumstances under three circumstances so what are these circumstances one would be time okay the second would be test the third would be trials trials or you can even say tribulations so enduring stands steadfast in the faith or endure in the face of time test trials and all three are different so that's what we need to understand because people keep asking the same questions again and again why is there a delay why is there a delay why am I going through all these difficulties there are three reasons one is time because it may not be God's time as simple as that we just have to wait for the right time and it's going to take some patience it's going to take some endurance because you're waiting for the right time and good examples will be Abraham it took long time Caleb Caleb when he had the promise of receiving that mountain Moses promised him a mountain right in the promised land but finally when Caleb got that mountain he was the Bible says that he was old he must have been around 80 years old so can you imagine a man who's waiting from the age of around 40 to the age of 80 to receive the piece of land which was promised to him so it's about time sometimes it's just not the right time and because of that we may need to wait the second that I said is test there can be moments where God takes us through a test now we all know about Abraham's test when God said sacrifice Isaac okay the child of promise can you sacrifice him one thing about the test of God is we must remember the test of God is not temptation okay so there are again two words here one is test the other or the opposite the right way to put it is the test is one thing but another word is temptation there is a very big difference between test and temptation now people get confused and they say God is tempting me when we say God is testing me okay that may be acceptable but we can never never say that God is tempting me who tempts Satan what is temptation yeah it's it's like Satan tries to induce us into sin so temptation what it does is temptation will will sort of draw you into sin God never does that God never does that and Apostle James in his book he says that God does not tempt us we are tempted because of our own desires okay so God doesn't want us to sin he doesn't want us to sin and therefore God does not tempt but the devil tempts what does God do yes there are times that God tests test is possible tests can come from God but temptation can never come from God because temptation will lead us into sin what will test lead us into yeah test will lead us into endurance strong character I heard somebody say if God is taking us through a test that means a promotion is coming so if there is a test think about the promotion if we clear the test you'll be promoted okay so by promotion we simply mean a stronger place in God you know a more firm place in God so we should not be afraid of tests because tests will only make us stronger so there is need for endurance when we go through tests in the case of Abraham it was about Isaac and how did Abraham perform in that test did he pass did he fail he passed because full of faith he trusted that even if Isaac is going to die God is a God of resurrection he will raise him up so he cleared his test and you know God led him forward now the third situation in which we need endurance is trials trials and tribulations what are trials and tribulations trials and tribulations are the the problems that we go through in this world just because we are in this world we may face a lot of things okay like you know some sadness some disappointment some discouragement some failures that's how life is on the earth so there are difficulties that we all encounter so trials tribulations tribulations are things that you know we we may find that there are people opposing us persecution opposition these are all things that happen so here on the earth we are going to experience these things because of satan because of other people because of our circumstances now in these situations as well which are known as trials and tribulations we need endurance we need endurance and you know what apostle James he writes about these trials in James chapter 1 verses 2 through 4 he says my brethren count it all joy when you fall into various trials so when we go through a lot of problems difficulties he says be joyful be joyful knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience so when we respond correctly to these trials our faith gets tested and it produces patience but let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete lacking nothing so god again is working on our character and our character is becoming stronger right have you ever heard of the way they purify gold yeah so first of all getting gold like you filter it out of the the soil the mud that's a that in itself is a very tough job but once you get the gold to get rid of the impurities one of the best ways in which they purify gold is they will raise the temperature have you heard about that so it is said that they will raise it to such a temperature such a degree that when the gold melts it'll come to a place where you it'll all almost reflect the like if you look at it it'll be like a mirror it'll reflect you to that extent they will melt it and through that high temperature that gold will be purified so it's somewhat similar in our lives does god tempt us does he want to hurt us does he want to destroy us no because this the devil comes to steal killer destroy but god knows that all of us cannot escape these three things some point or the other we'll have to endure through time there will be tests that each one of us need to face there will be trials and tribulations but why does he let us go through it because that's when the purification happens it feels like you know we are under high pressure high heat and why god why are you letting this happen but the bible says when you go through these trials when you go through these tests it says that the testing of your faith produces patience but let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete lacking nothing so god wants our character to be strong our patience to be perfect look at first Peter chapter one verse seven again it says that the genuineness of your faith being much more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire may be found to praise honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ so god is saying that he wants our faith to be like gold faith is more precious than gold and god wants to make sure that our faith is pure gold right so we will go through these circumstances because it's just part of building us up we can tell god god can you can you just remove all these things all these difficulties but god says if you don't go through these tests trials then how will you become perfect there needs to be a work of perfection in us so it cannot be removed right we have to go through that's the only way forward so these are all things that we must keep in mind as far as our faith is concerned okay and like faith together with reset patience and faith together with endurance see in Hebrews chapter 11 do you remember we went through all the mighty men and women of god we said Abraham, Jacob, Isaac, Abel, David so we saw so many names they were all people who did something mighty for god but towards the end of the passage we saw some people who went through difficulties but why are they in the in that passage about faith because they endured they did not see victories like the other people but they endured even when we endure it gives god glory so look at this you have verse 33 verse 34 of wait we'll go below that verse 36 of Hebrews 11 where it says still others had trial of mockings and scourgings yes and of chains and imprisonment so it's talking about people who were thrown in the prison who were beaten now we can ask how is it that you know this is faith and the result of faith but it says here how did they manage to survive through these difficulties because of their faith and god was happy about their endurance even though it doesn't say they escaped it doesn't say they survived but god was still proud because they endured now verse 37 they were stoned they were sawn and two were tempted were slain with the sword they wandered about in sheep skins and goat skins being destitute afflicted tormented when we read about the times of you know the book of acts again you will find there a lot of persecution was going on you know Herod in fact I think acts 12 he kills James the brother of John and then he tries to kill Peter so so much of persecution was going on at that time and then you wonder like what about these people who did not survive or these people who struggled so much see even they had a life of faith the reason they were able to go through the trials or Steve Stephen right who was martyred what do you say about all these people they were also men and women of faith they were able to endure because of faith and god takes notice of it so it's not just about our you know a great outcome yes there are times when we see all these wonderful outcomes but even in times where people have faced trials difficulties endured by faith god takes notice of it so yeah it's written about all those things verse 38 says they wandered in deserts and mountains in dens and caves of the earth all of and all these having obtained a good testimony through faith did not receive the promise god having provided something better for us that they should not be made perfect apart from us so god still took notice of these people and he was proud of them right um yeah so that's a little bit about exercising faith with patience and endurance any any thoughts anything to discuss about this if so we can um otherwise we just move to the next chapter peter telling satan also is a lion so how we can differentiate it roaring lion okay uh you're saying peter calls satan as a lion roaring lion roaring lion and the bible also can you come again jesus jesus is referring as a lion book of mark yeah yeah yeah how can we differentiate okay so you see all this is prophetic language okay so prophetic language where uh we must interpret the image correctly for example uh john the baptist he says behold the lamb of god who takes away the sins of the world who's he talking about jesus why is he calling him a lamb of god sacrifice because if you look at the the temple practices they were familiar with uh sacrificing a lamb they were familiar with offering the blood of the lamb uh you know the sin offering they were they were familiar with a lot of things uh and that is why when john saw jesus with that in mind he says behold the lamb of god in that context got it so that that word or that picture of the lamb has to be interpreted correctly so in the context of temple sacrifices and all this is the perfect lamb of god the lord jesus he's going to die for us and bring us redemption now same way apply these the lion okay so when we say lion the lion of juda what what does it signify it signifies jesus as the ruler or the ruling king the reigning king okay he's the ruler uh uh so that is the understanding but if you look at satan as the lion now what is the context you you should look at all the like the understanding of the bible what does the bible say about satan uh he comes to steal kill destroy he lies he accuses he deceives uh so in that context lion okay in that context is somebody who destroys got it because the same animal it rules but it can also destroy so we must interpret it in its context and take the meaning in its context so it's okay to use the same imagery for two very opposite things so the picture of the lion can be it is used for jesus also but it is used for satan also so interpretation is important you got it yeah see even when you when you look at uh dove the bird no the dove the bible says like when jesus came he was baptized like the dove descended on him so the picture of the dove is a picture of the holy spirit in that context so sometimes you may have seen people draw the dove to depict the holy spirit you know the power of the holy spirit but uh jesus said you must be you must be wise as serpents right you must be wise as serpents you should not be dumb or gullible as doves okay so there is a statement that he makes um about believers and he says you should not be uh so innocent or simple or dumb like doves same dove two meanings one depicting the holy spirit the other depicting foolishness you got it so uh good question actually uh nelson so this is about interpreting uh prophetic imagery so we should interpret it in its context otherwise can you see we can make such a big mistake yeah so that's how it is sure right um okay so sanjay says a devouring lion can also be a rogue lion that has separated from the pack this lion kills not for food but for pleasure okay i didn't know that sanjay thanks for sharing that piece of information so yeah um anything more about endurance patients kichals uh seems like a question says ma'am on the subject of endurance and patience how do we differentiate between a test and a satanic attack how do we differentiate um a test and a satanic attack okay so uh um brother charles what we can do is we can look at the nature of the um uh nature of the circumstance okay so usually you know whatever we talked here right so time is quite natural it happens uh test is also somewhat positive okay we even through the test we have a sense of confidence that yes if i can make it through this test uh something good will will come out of this but the last category here trials and temptations so trials and tribulations generally satan works in this third category okay trials and tribulations uh so we we can discern uh charles that's what i would say discern or that spiritual recognition we can have uh that something is the devil or something is god it's hard to explain uh otherwise but also what helps us is when you understand how satan works so when we recognize how satan works um in the subject you have it in your next semester believers authority um uh deliverance and demonology when we study about how demons work we will understand how exactly they function so with that in mind we can tell whether something is the devil like if you look at if you look at the features of a demonic attack we can say that this is demonic right uh but if you can't recognize it with the list of all the activities of satan uh then you may you may uh say that okay maybe it's just a test that i am going through okay i hope it answers your question but if you have follow questions please do ask me uh yes yes akhil tribulations yeah okay correct so akhil is saying tests will draw us closer to god when we go through them but trials and tribulations will take us away from god perfect yeah that's also um an answer okay uh sister gertrude says um um she's saying the the challenges that we face uh which may be tests that will have the peace of god but uh the ones that you know satan brings it will it will have a sense of restlessness that's also true yeah sure so i think we have a fair understanding of uh you know patience endurance so we can go ahead to the next uh subject here which has to do with determination determination uh which undergirds faith okay so determination is um having a never give up attitude and it is described with the so many english terms in our notes here there are words like tenacity or um you know pressing in being relentless unwilling to give up or being stubborn obstinate in a in a positive way uh being persistent being insistent so these are all words that we can use to describe determination so basically it is a uh never give up attitude that one needs to have so whenever we talk about faith faith is connected to determination no faith doesn't give up true faith genuine faith doesn't give up it will hold on till we see the results that's how it should be from the new testament there are a couple of instances which we have and we are going to look at it now uh what we will do is we will read all these passages there are three passages one is about the woman with the issue of blood uh this is in mark chapter five versus 25 to 34 so one person can please read it it's somewhat long but you know it'll be helpful if we read it then another person can please read matthew chapter 20 versus 29 to 34 um okay who would like to read mark five let's okay nelson will read it great uh matthew 20 29 to 34 any volunteers abhishek okay abhishek will read it um matthew 15 21 to 28 maybe somebody online i will i will read sister yes yes okay sister gathur you can read it so uh let's begin with nelson mark chapter five 25 to 34 and there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for 12 years and who had suffered much under many physicians and had spent all that she had and was no better but rather grue wars she had heard the reports about jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment for she said if i touch even his garments i will be made well and immediately the flow of blood dried up and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease and jesus perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him immediately turned about in the crowd and said who touched my garments and his disciples said to him you see the crowd pressing around you and yet you say who touched me and he looked around to see who had done it but the women knowing what had happened to her came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth and he said to her daughter your faith has made you well go in peace and be healed of your disease while he was still speaking there came from the rulers house some who said your daughter is dead why trouble the teacher any further okay fine thank you nelson so this is the incident where there is a woman who has the issue of blood for 12 years so we let's think about the situation that she is in we could say that she must have been very weak right 12 years she is sick so she is weak she could have been poor because it says that she went to doctors nothing much happened so she spent all her money she must have been weak financially also can we say that she was discouraged sometimes when we try different things and it does not work we feel discouraged we feel disappointed maybe she had all those feelings frustration anger we could say that but one thing that she had as far as Jesus was concerned was faith in him because she tells herself if only I can touch the hem of his garment I can be made well so she had faith in Jesus she also has a lot of courage so in the crowd imagine you know she has to push through the crowd because she has an intention I have to touch his clothes so she goes in all her weakness she touches and then Jesus asks who touched me maybe she got scared oh what is going to happen now because I was the one who did it but she has courage now she comes and she tells Jesus what exactly happened and he says okay daughter it's your faith that has made you well so Jesus was happy with her because her faith was a determined faith she she took it up upon herself and she touched Jesus's clothes now so many other things could have happened the way we saw in that theater workshop you can make a whole story of it right you can just paint the picture maybe her family said don't go this and that so many things but she was determined all right so we saw her determination let's look at Matthew 20 verse 29 to 34. Matthew 20 verse 29 now as they went out of Jericho a great multitude followed him was 30 and behold two blind men sitting by the road when they hear that Jesus was passing by cried out saying have mercy on us oh lord son of David was 31 then the multitude warned them they that they should be quiet but they cried out all the more saying have mercy on us oh lord son of David was 32 so Jesus stood still and called them and said what do you want me to do for you verse 33 they said to him lord that our eyes may be open verse 34 so Jesus had compassion and touched their eyes and immediately their eyes received sight and they followed him okay praise god so what do we see here we see two blind men they have heard that Jesus is close by okay and they start crying out loudly the son of David have mercy on us have mercy on us now what are some of the challenges that they are facing the crowd is accusing them the crowd is mocking them so that can be a discouragement right when people say why are you crying so loudly keep quiet you know don't disturb Jesus so people are opposing them but they have faith that oh we should not let go of this chance Jesus is here Jesus will heal us so they have faith in Jesus one is the crowd the crowd is stopping them second thing think about Jesus Jesus is asking them the question what do you want that's also a little bit discouraging because Jesus can see that they are blind and so desperately they are crying out so obviously he can understand these blind men want to see but Jesus is asking the question what do you want now if they were the kind who got angry with Jesus what what do you mean Jesus we are blind obviously we want to see that's what we want in case they responded like that I don't know whether they would have received the healing but they had faith in Jesus Jesus just wanted to know what is it that you're expecting from me even though he knows he's asking them and they told him Jesus we want to be able to see and then he heals them and immediately they were healed look at their determination they did not let the people discourage them they did not even let the the method that Jesus used of asking them what do you want they didn't let that also discourage them they were determined whatever it is we want to be healed right that was their faith and because of their faith they were healed now let us look at the third passage here Matthew 15 verses 21 through 28 uh sister Gertrude you can go sister um Matthew 15 21 to 28 then Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon and behold a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to him saying have mercy on me oh lord son of David my daughter is severely demon possessed but he answered her not a word and his disciples came and urged him saying send her away for she cries out after us but he answered and said I was not sent to accept to the lost sheep of the house of Israel then she came and worshipped him saying lord help me but he answered and said it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs and she said yes lord yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their master's table then Jesus answered and said to her oh woman great is your faith let it be to you as you desire and her daughter was healed from that very hour okay thank you um thank you sister so we see the uh determination of a mother in this case okay her daughter is uh oppressed and she wants deliverance for her daughter she comes to Jesus but what does she experience from Jesus she experiences denial it's almost like Jesus is saying sorry you know go somewhere else don't ask me why because he's saying I have come to the lost sheep of Israel meaning uh when Jesus was ministering on the earth before he died on the cross uh he was ministering to the Jews because he had still not died on the cross right once he died on the cross this blessing was open to all communities that is why later on you see the disciples they went they preached to the Gentiles they preached to the Greeks they preached to you know people uh going into all the world and make disciples that was possible after the work of Jesus on the cross but before the cross you know there is there is Jesus is functioning on the basis of covenant he has a covenant with Abraham and who are Abraham's people the Jews that's what Jesus is telling this woman he's saying woman I have come for the lost sheep of the house of Israel not for you for them you're outside the covenant right so I cannot we cannot give the bread to the dogs can you imagine she's so desperate she wants her child to be healed because she knows that Jesus can set um the child free she goes begging to Jesus and Jesus says sorry one you're outside the covenant second uh it's literally like he's saying the dogs she could have gotten so angry with Jesus and said you know why are you calling calling me dog she could have said that but what did she say she said but Lord even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the children's table can you can you just picture she's not ready to give up she has an explanation she says Jesus you say whatever you want one thing I know the healing which you have which is the children's bread that's what he said healing is the children's bread it is for my people but she says you can still give me a piece of that right even the dog can get a small crumb of that bread what amazing faith she had and Jesus what did he say great is your faith okay go your daughter will be fine so Jesus made an exception even the covenant which was there uh this is actually historic that Jesus says because of a woman's faith you take it miracle will go to you also even though you're not a Jew she's a Canaanite woman Matthew describes clearly she's not Jewish still Jesus said okay we'll bend the rule you can take what you want because you're so determined you can get it right so think about all these people what are some some common features that we see in them they all the initiative you know sometimes faith will not sit quietly when faith knows that Jesus is here faith will do whatever it can do to reach out Jesus right so initiative we call that initiative meaning you won't just sit back and relax I've got does let them do if he doesn't do it's okay it's not like that you have to do it Jesus you have to do it for me and so initiative is you it will get up faith will get up and do something you got it so initiative determination is associated with initiative then what else do we see against all odds for all these people there were too many challenges too many challenges it feels like that woman with the issue of blood but well where's your sick how can you even think that you'll get healed now right people can say that the blind men you're already blind you're fully blind how can you even imagine that you'll be able to see or the Canaanite woman we could say that you're not at all in the covenant Jesus won't listen to you there are too many things which are standing against these people and their expectations but they did not give up they said yeah we know it's too difficult to get something from Jesus but he will do it for us okay excuse me I will have to mute yes and the next thing that we see here is embarrassment embarrassment means you know you feel you feel shy you feel shame think about that woman with the issue of blood in those days if you're a woman who's bleeding you can't go in like you can't go and be with other people because you're considered you know you're not considered well but she took the risk it was embarrassing for her to even go what if people find out that you know you have this problem but you're you're out with the crowds she didn't care she said no I gotta get the healing I won't be so what if I feel shame I will still go after Jesus so embarrassment was not a problem the the blind men people said keep quiet stop screaming like this but what did they do they didn't care they said no we want a miracle you say whatever you want but we need Jesus to touch us so they didn't worry about shame or embarrassment they went ahead same thing with that woman Jesus kind of put her down but she was not ashamed she said Lord you call me dog you call me anything you give me the healing that's all I want it okay so she was not she didn't act on the basis of embarrassment and faith will not take determined faith will not take no for an answer even to Jesus they didn't keep quiet right Jesus is saying woman sorry knock the next door but even to Jesus that woman is not leaving him he's saying no no no Jesus you have to do this you have to do this for my child okay so faith will not take no for an answer and faith presses in right it's like tenacious tenacious means you know when you hold on to something and you hold on very very tight very very tight okay sometimes you have these little kids you tell them okay don't take that don't you can only touch this but they'll grab the wrong thing they won't leave it you literally have to remove their fingers from it because they're not ready to give it up that is tenacious tenacious is you're holding so tight that you not let it go so this is a feature of faith when we say that we have faith in God we are trusting God faith has got to be determined faith it can't be light you know what I mean like yeah okay I have a grip on God but if he doesn't do it I'll just let it go that's not that's not faith at all so faith is tenacious faith is determined faith will not stop faith will not take no for an answer so that's how it is so I'm just going to stop here if there's any points for discussion we can talk and we will close with the word of prayer anything about determination okay I think we all understand and we just need to pray and ask God to help us have this kind of strong faith right so let's pray and close could someone help us pray these things that we have learned just now maybe somebody from the online batch okay we'll have to be quick Heavenly Father we just wish to thank you once again for this out of study Lord we pray Father that whatever we have learned today Lord that you give us a deeper revelation of what we've learned and help us to apply it in our lives Lord Lord we just pray that as we continue this course we'll grow from strength to strength in our faith Father and help us to be a blessing Lord in this life you pray for a blessing upon all the teachers and upon all the students Lord and help us to be you know committed and in this committed in this journey and to have a hunger for your word Lord as we continue we ask all of this Lord Jesus in the precious name amen amen amen thank you thank you brother Sanjeth thank you everyone God bless you have a great day bye for now