Priscilla Shirer – How to Remain Faithful
Shire is a wife and mom first, but put a Bible in her hand and a message in her heart.
And you’ll see why thousands meet God in powerful personal ways at her conferences and through her Bible study resources, she is the New York Times best selling author of more than two dozen books and has had featured roles in movies like War Room.
I can only imagine an overcomer Priscilla and her husband of 23 years, Jerry Shire meet going beyond ministries through which they provide spiritual support and resources to the body of Christ.
They count it as a privilege to serve every denomination and culture across the spectrum of the church.
Their greatest joy has been raising three young adult sons, Jackson, Jerry Junior and Jude Concord, help us welcome Priscilla Shire.
Good morning family.
It’s a pleasure to be with you this morning to have an opportunity to share with the Concord Church.
And uh for those of you who don’t know, I just go to church like one mile from here just down the street at Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship Church.
And so for all these many decades, we’ve just been in the same community in the same orbit doing life and community and church together.
So it feels like I’m at home with family.
Um And so it’s a pleasure to be able to, to serve you today. Thank you for having me.
I can’t let the opportunity pass by to celebrate your pastors and leaders, Brian and Stephanie Carter.
They are incredible people. They’re incredible people and really the Lord must love y’all that he let you have pastors that actually have integrity, like they do integrity in their marriage and their family, their ministry.
That’s a big deal. That’s a big deal. And uh we’re grateful for them.
I told the first service that um Jerry and I are just, just about 24 years into being married now and the first couple of years, thank you.
The first couple of years that we were married, we would go out with friends.
But really, it was like my friend, like I was friends with her and then she was married.
And so basically I was setting my husband up on play dates and about two or three years into our marriage.
He looked at me and said, stop setting me up on these play dates.
I don’t wanna meet your friends’, husbands and be set up with them.
So we stopped hanging out with people and I prayed for a long time that the Lord would give us a couple where the four of us were really knitted together on our hearts and the Lord answered that prayer for us with Brian and Stephanie Carter.
Um So for a lot of years now, a lot of years now, we’ve really just done life together and that’s been a blessing to us.
So it feels like a gift to be able to serve them in this way on this morning.
I’m excited about God’s Word and to share just what I think is a simple, yet important and profound challenge with you this morning.
It’s been a challenge for me. So I’m hoping it will encourage you as well this morning. Y’all ready?
Let’s pray, Lord Jesus. I thank you for your word that it is living and active and sharper than a two edged sword.
Father, I pray that you would take the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart make them acceptable to you.
Father. Build up your people today. We’re your sons and your daughters and we’re listening.
Lord, we came for a word from you, speak in jesus’ name. Amen. Hey, ma’am.
It was September in 2008.
Some of you may remember when a hurricane named Ike swept through, it caused extensive damage.
110 mile per hour per hour, winds ripped through towns across Texas, but there was one that was the hardest hit.
It’s a little town called Gilcrest. This little town is a community that boasts about 200 homes or so.
It’s not a big town, not a big community, but it’s where a lot of people in the latter years of their life decided that they would go so that they could have a little respite and peace during the retirement years of their life.
So they went to this little beachside community called Gilchrest so that they could have peace.
But y’all know how life is. The storm came in 2, 2008. I came through and devastated the community.
In fact, the aftermath was so devastating that people that visited the neighborhood 24 hours after the storm said that this little beach town community was almost completely unrecognizable.
What once had been friendly sidewalks and detailed landscape, lawns and brightly colored small homes right there on the shoreline of the water had been completely wiped out.
There was very little that even gave a nod to the fact that there had been history there, that there had been a neighborhood there of the 200 homes that had been standing the day before 199 of them had been wiped out by the storm.
It’s a completely odd and devastating and even shocking sight to look at this neighborhood because there’s only one house after the storm that remained man.
If I had time this morning, I’d tell you just about the owners of this house because they really gave testament to the fact that the only reason they think their house still stood is because they had been through previous storms.
And as a result of having been through previous storm, they had called in a master architect, a master builder and had asked them to help them to retrofit their home, to fortify it more securely so that for future storms, they would be able to stand.
And after I, they were the only house that remained, the reality is that if you look closely at that image, you will see and think about the fact that honestly, sadly, that picture mirrors the landscape of a lot of our own lives.
Because when you look around you, you’ll notice that there are a whole lot of people who started with you who you can realize now actually weren’t building houses that were meant to last.
They talked a good game at the beginning.
They meant well, maybe they had good intentions but the storm came and their houses ain’t still standing.
They made the vows to be committed, maybe to the marriage that they were building, the family that they had been entrusted with.
The ministry that the Lord was birthing through them, the business that they were starting, maybe as single men and women, you started out together deciding to walk in integrity.
But over time you realize that everybody’s house ain’t still standing.
And the landscape of our lives is dotted with houses that have been collapsing one after the other as people have not been able to weather the storm, I want to talk to you this morning about remaining about being faithful over the course of time about having houses that still stand, not just in one season and not just in the next and not just for one year or for two, not just through one storm or just a couple, but over the seasons of life on mountain tops and through valleys, you and I have got to be committed and making sure that that which the Lord has entrusted to us the assignments he’s given us the endeavors that he has put in our hearts to build for his glory.
That in the end, our houses are still intact. Where are the saints who will remain?
Where are the saints who will be faithful?
Where are the people who’ve decided that come he or hot water?
I’ve made my decision that as for me in my house, what we gonna do is we’re gonna serve the Lord.
The political landscape may change and the stock market may plump plummet and cultural ideals may shift.
But I’ve decided that my hope is built on nothing less but Christ and his faithfulness to me and that we will be faithful over the course of time.
Y’all, so many people are jumping ship.
Have you noticed so many people have decided that they are going to leave their marriage or give up on the parent, the uh parenting endeavor that God has given them with their Children.
Dreamers are throwing in the towel on dreams. God entrusted to them ministers are quitting.
What they said was a calling.
Why is it such a rarity to find people who’ve just decided to stay, who just decided to be faithful and in a room this size and with so many people I know who are not on only in the room but probably also watching online.
I it would be remiss of me to think that there are so many of us from so many diverse backgrounds and experiences and dynamics, different seasons and generations of life that there are so many of us.
Probably more than a few who honestly, if the truth be told on this Sunday morning, you are on the brink of jumping ship because right now this season of your life, if we were to take this little microphone and just start right here in the front and pass it all the way to the back, all of us could give testimony of hardship, maybe that we are currently facing or have just come out of.
And the reality is that all of us in this room are in one of three places.
You’re either right smack dab in the middle of a storm, you’re on your way into one or you’re on your way out of one because it’s the nature of the life we live.
And maybe this Sunday morning has met you at a time where honestly you have said to the Lord, if you yourself.
Don’t tell me to hang on that.
I’m throwing in the towel and I just believe that possibly the Holy Spirit just sent me over from Arlington, Texas.
Just to tell you in the name of Jesus Christ.
Stay, remain, be faithful.
Keep your hand to the plow, keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, have integrity, have character and remained.
Y’all the older and older I get the less impressed I am with the, with the famous and the more I impressed I am with the faithful, the people who have just gone the distance.
They may not be famous, but they’ve remained, they may not be rich, but they’ve remained.
They may not be applauded by the masses, but they’ve remained, they may not have millions of followers on Facebook or best selling books, but they ain’t concerned about that.
They’re just trying to be steadfast, unmoved and always abounding in the work of the Lord brothers and sisters. Stay.
John writes about staying over and over throughout his gospel over 40 times in the book of the Gospel of John, he writes the word abide, that’s the word for remain, stay dwell, dig your roots deep and be steady.
And then in his letters, 1st, 2nd and 3rd John, three epistles scholars call those the remaining trio, the remaining or staying trifecta because over and over again in 1st, 2nd and 3rd, John, he keeps writing this about this challenge to us to remain, to be faithful to stay in the good times, but also especially in the bad times to stay over the course of time.
So I wanna read a couple of verses to you from first John chapter two.
I’m gonna read verse 13 and 14 and then verse 28 it says this, I am writing to you fathers because you know him who has been from the beginning.
I have written to you young men because you have overcome the evil one.
I have written to you Children because you know the father, it’s so important that he repeats it almost verbatim.
In verse 14, I have written to you fathers because you know Him who has been from the beginning, I have written to young men because you are strong and the word of God abides in you and you have overcome the evil one.
And then verse 28 and now little Children, here’s our word abide in Him.
Some of your translations might say remain in Him so that when he appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from him at his coming.
John says, I’m gonna tell you right now what the catalyst is for the reason why I’m telling you to remain.
What the reason is. What your why will be as to whether or not you will choose, I will choose to be faithful over the course of time.
He says, abide remain, stay, be faithful, build a house that will last over the course of time.
And he says, I’m gonna tell you why. Verse 28 because Jesus is coming.
That’s why because Jesus is on the way. Y’all listen.
I don’t mean in theory, I mean the sky is gonna split.
I’m telling you the trumpet is gonna sound.
I’m telling you, Jesus is coming back and when he returns, we’re gonna have to look our savior in his eyes and give an account for what we did with this life that he entrusted to us.
First. We’re going to have to answer the question whether or not we were in relationship with God by placing faith in Jesus Christ.
And then right after we seal that the next thing will be was that the Lord will look at our lives to see whether or not the houses he entrusted to us are still standing, whether or not we were faithful with the time, the talent and the treasures that he gave us on this side of eternity.
John says, the reason why you wanna make sure your house is still intact over time is because eternity is in view.
And when eternity is constantly in our view, brothers and sisters, when we’re reminded of the fact that one day Jesus is going to return.
And by the way, I think that day is coming sooner than we think.
He says, when you keep eternity in view, it changes the way you deal with the stuff of earth.
The decisions that you make the responses and reactions that you give to people, the words that you use the steps that you take the forward motion that you determine in your businesses and in your ministries and in your relationships with your spouses and with your Children and your grandchildren.
He says you’re gonna want to build a house that is firm and solid and that stands over the course of time because you’re going to have to give an account for this house of yours.
Did you notice that in verse 13 and 14, John actually deals very specifically with the fact.
In fact, he recognizes that there are stages and seasons of this remaining of being faithful.
He recognizes the fact that every season of life isn’t going to be the same.
He says, I’m writing to you little Children. Then he says, I’m writing to you young men that’s adolescence.
Then he says, I’m writing to you fathers.
He acknowledges that there are stages and seasons of life, seasons of development, progression, maturity that one season will lend itself to different hardships or difficulties or joys or sorrows than another.
There are different storms that come in different seasons of life.
But he says, I’m writing to you in each stage so that you will remain wherever you are in whatever season or stage you find yourself in on this Sunday morning.
He says I’m challenging you to remain there until God releases you so that you can have a sturdy house that will remain over the course of time.
I figure that for just a few moments, what you and I can do is just look at these three stages of faithfulness so that we can see where we are in the progression.
The bottom of verse 13, the last line of verse 13 starts us out.
He says, I have written to you Children and he says, here’s why I’m writing to you when you’re in that phase of your growth, I’m writing to you Children because you have come to know the father.
He says, I’m writing to you when you’re in the infancy stage.
The word in the original language that he uses that is translated. Children refers to an infant.
Think about what babies do. They rest on the shoulders of the one who loves them the most they don’t produce, they don’t generate, they don’t offer much.
They just relax in the embrace of the one who gave birth to them.
They learned to know the voice of their mother or father.
They learned to know that they can be covered and taken care of and nourished and provided by the one who gave them life.
He says, I’m writing to you little Children when you’re in the infancy stage in any season or any uh dynamic in your life.
Maybe you just came to know Christ as Savior.
You’re just starting out on this spiritual journey or you just started putting feet to the dream God has entrusted to you for that, for the endeavor.
Or you’re just starting out in the ministry building, the ministry that God has given you or the two of you just walked down and said, I do.
You’re just starting this family. You’re in some infancy stage in your life.
He says, I’m writing to you little Children when you’re in that phase.
Because the whole goal to build a solid foundation for this house of yours, the whole goal of your life when you’re in the infancy stage should be verse 13 to come to know who your daddy is.
There’s no way the foundation of your house will be firm unless you know your father Jerry.
And I, as was mentioned, um you saw a picture of us with our boys, three boys that we got an opportunity to travel a whole lot with through their lifetime with ministry.
We’ve just been traveling a lot, we home school them for a lot of years so that they could come on the journey with us.
And one of the place we got to take them about five years ago was to Cape Town, South Africa.
And because we were home schooling, I planned what they were learning uh based on the fact that I knew they were gonna get to go to Cape Town, we knew a year in advance that we were gonna go.
So we saved up money for them to go man, we thought this might be a once in a lifetime thing.
Let’s take the boys with us. And so we saved up the money to go.
We planned home schooling around it.
So I was thinking, ok, we’re gonna learn about the Apartheid Museum or, or, or the Apartheid Movement.
We’re gonna learn about Nelson Mandela.
We’re gonna look at the geography of Table Mountain and lions head and maybe even see some animals in online that are indigenous to that particular area.
And my goal was that six weeks later when we went there, we would actually see those things in person.
So we took the boys and I think that they thought they were going on vacation.
Mm mm Not today.
You waking up every day and seeing whatever there is to see over here in this good Cape Town.
We’re gonna milk this experience. So I was waking up up early in the morning.
They had attitudes about having to get up. They thought they were just gonna be relaxing in the hotel.
And I was like, no, you’re gonna see all this and you’re gonna be happy about it.
And one day you’re gonna rise up and call me Blessed Shucks.
So I’m dragging them all around me and Jerry and making them see Table Mountain.
Let’s go to the top of Table Mountain. Let’s go to the Apartheid Museum.
Let’s take this little ferry over to Robben Island so we can see where Nelson Mandela was in prison for all those years.
And one of the things that we did was we woke up before the sun came up one morning and we traveled two hours outside of Cape Town.
So we could do a little half day safari.
I wanted them to possibly, and I wanted to see some animals that maybe we’d only seen online.
So we got in this open face, Jeep. There was a very bubbly guy that was our, our guide.
He sat at the front of the Jeep and we began to go around this safari park, we saw lots of animals that we had never ever seen before in person.
And I remember specifically though when we stopped by a herd of zebra.
And I can consciously remember thinking when the, when the dude pulled up to the zebra, I remember thinking, I hope he don’t spend a whole lot of time talking about the zebra because we can see zebra at the Dallas Zoo down the street.
We don’t need an explanation about the zebra.
But after he stopped and explained what was on his mind to share. I was so glad he did.
He pointed out a baby, a fool that was with the herd.
He said, y’all see that baby zebra right there.
He says, I’m stopping at the zebra to point out that baby because this is the first time I’ve seen the baby back with the herd since the baby was born two or three weeks ago.
And he said, I wanna tell y’all why.
He said the stripes on every single zebra are as unique to each zebra as thumbprints on human beings.
You can’t see it with the naked eye, but particularly the configuration of stripes that are right there in the middle of the forehead of every zebra.
It is just as distinct as fingerprints on human beings.
So when a new baby zebra is born, the mother will take that full aside from the herd for the first two or three weeks of his or her life because her whole goal is to make sure that her baby is not distracted by all the configuration of stripes that are on the foreheads of all the other zebra.
The mother wants to bait the baby to just zero in on the stripes that are on her forehead.
So that when she brings the baby back to all the other stripes, the baby will not be confused ever about the configuration of stripes that actually belongs to the one who gave him life.
John says the whole reason why you want to take time to get to know who your father is is because y’all we live in a day and age that are trying to present too much a whole bunch of closely configured stripes.
And if you’re not careful, you’re gonna get played for the fool.
You gonna have to know that by his stripes and his stripes alone are the ones by which you have been healed.
You’re gonna have to know who your father is.
You’re gonna have to know his character. You’re gonna have to know the sound of his voice.
You’re going to have to know the, what the way he related to, to Moses and Joshua and Ruth and Esther and them.
You’ll have to see him in the New Testament of the world.
Word became flesh and dwelt among them and they got to behold his glory, the glory of the only begotten fool of grace and full of truth.
And the reason why you’re gonna have to know is so that when the culture presents to you a new modernized version of this Jesus, the one who is silent against injustice and has lowered his standard of holiness.
You need to be able to see that version and say, oh, that’s not who he is because I know who he was.
You need to have taken time to really get to know who your father is.
John says, don’t circumvent this part of the the process. Infancy is for intimacy.
It’s for you to get to know who your daddy is.
And those of you on this youth Sunday that are young people in the house of God.
Listen, don’t circumvent or negate this part of the process.
Don’t succumb to the pressure that you need to be something other than where you are right now.
Just getting to know who your daddy is in this hustle growing culture.
That’s telling all of us we have to produce more and do more and be more.
No, sometimes we just need to sit down somewhere and get to know who our daddy is.
Pediatricians will tell you not to bounce babies too early on their legs to resist the temptation to put too much pressure on their legs too soon because even the most minute amount of pressure too soon because their bones are so malleable and soft can cause just slight distortion in their spine.
And you won’t see it initially. It’s over years. It’s as they mature, it’s as their body grows.
You will see they just have a little bit the slightest little limp in their step because there was too much pressure put on them too soon.
And y’all, we have a generation of young people who had too much pressure put on them too soon and you don’t see it initially.
It’s later on in their lives when they’re walking with a spiritual limp with their morality is off.
Their conscience is skewed. It’s because they didn’t take time to just get to know who their daddy is.
You need to just know that in Genesis, he’s the breath of life.
You need to see him in Exodus as the Passover lamb.
You need to come to know him in Leviticus as your high priest. You need to know that in numbers.
He’s the fire by night. And in Deuteronomy, he is Israel’s guide.
You need to see him in Joshua as salvation’s choice.
And in judges as Israel’s guard, you need to know that in Ruth he is the kinsman redeemer.
You need to have seen him in 1st and 2nd Samuel as our trusted prophet.
You need to know that in kings and chronicles, he is sovereign and you need to have seen him in Ezra as the true and faithful scribe and in Nehemiah as the one who rebuilds walls and rebuilds lives.
You need to know that in Esther, he is your courage and in job, he’s the timeless redeemer.
You need to have taken time to see him in Psalms as your morning song.
And in Proverbs as your wisdom, you need to have seen that in ecclesiastics.
He’s a time and he is a season in the song of Solomon. He’s the lover’s dream and Isaiah.
He’s the prince of peace and Jeremiah, he’s the weeping prophet and lamentation. He’s the cry for Israel and Esther.
He’s the call from sin and Daniel, he’s the stranger in the fire and Hosea. He’s the forever faithful.
You need to know that in Joel, he’s the spirit’s power and in Amos, he’s the strong arms that carry and die.
Yeah. He’s the Lord, our savior in Jonah. He’s the great missionary in Micah.
He’s the promise of peace in name. He’s our strength and shield in Habakkuk and Zephaniah.
He brings revival in ha you need to know.
He’s the one who restores that, which was once lost in Zachariah.
He is our fountain and in Malachi, he’s the son of righteousness rising with healing in his wings.
And y’all, that’s just who he is in the Old Testament because the truth is if you wait about 400 years and you just flip over a couple of pages, you’ll see that in Matthew, Mark Luke and John.
He’s not just God. Now, he’s your Messiah.
And in the spirit filled book of Acts, he’s the reigning fire from heaven in Romans.
He’s the grace of God Corinthians. He’s the power of love in Galatians.
He’s freedom from the curse of sin in Ephesians. He’s our glorious treasure in Philippians.
He’s the servant’s heart in Colossians. He’s God and the Trinity in Thessalonian.
He’s our calling king in Timothy, Titus and Philemon.
He shows up as our mediator and our faithful pastor in Hebrews. He’s the everlasting courage in James.
He’s the one who will still heal you when you’re sick.
In 1st and 2nd Peter, he’s our faithful shepherd and in John and Jude, he’s the lover coming for his pride and in the revelation in the very end when it’s all over and said and done.
He was and is and will always be the first, the last, the beginning and the end.
That’s who he is. Amen.
Take time to get to know who your daddy is.
Remain here till he releases you because if you abort this part of the process, you will have no character.
Your foundation won’t be solid. And let me tell you something.
If the spotlight that you’re craving, if it hits you and you have no character, it will burn you to a crisp.
John says the reason why you’re going to need to have a sturdy character in your fledgling stages is because you are going to grow up and become young men, young women.
He’s referring to puberty here. He’s referring to adolescence. He says, you’ll know when you’re in this stage.
Verse 13, I am writing to you young men because you have overcome the evil one.
He reiterated it in verse 14 and says, I’m writing to you when you’re in the adolescent stage because you are strong.
This is the stage where you get some muscle on you.
So um our boys are huge y’all, they’re huge. They’re giants. They’ve been giants.
Somebody come help me feed these people. Oh my goodness.
When they were 13 years old, 12 years old, we could tell they were gonna be powerful boys about that age is when they would all sprout up to about six ft two inch tall.
They were a size 14 men’s shoe.
Uh They have been big for a long time and it’s about the time they’re about 12 years old that I recognize their, their strength, how powerful they are because that’s about the time they could toss me on the couch when we were wrestling and they could pin me down and I realized, oh, I’m out like they got me.
Anybody know what I’m talking about where you realize your kids got you.
And it was about 11 or 12 with each of our sons where I realized, oh, yeah, y’all gonna have to wrestle with your daddy.
I’m not gonna be able to do it anymore.
It wasn’t until the latter years of teenage years that their father allowed their coaches to add weights to their training.
Before then he was like, no, they’re too young.
They can do push ups and stuff, but don’t put any weight on them until they’re older.
Once they started lifting weight, the power that was in them started to take shape on the outside of them like there were biceps and triceps, their chests were rounded.
This is when they started walking around the house with their shirts off thinking they had swag.
I was like, boy that’s nasty.
Put your shirt on the power was in them.
But now it started to be evident on the outside of them.
John says this is the adolescent stage. You know, you’re in it when life is weighty.
When the heaviness of that particular dynamic, the heaviness of marriage, the heaviness of parenting, the struggle in your finances, the struggle on your business or in your ministry, man, this feels like weight that you do not feel like you have the power or the strength to keep on lifting.
He says I’m writing to you today to remain through this season because this is the season where most people jump ship.
This is the season where folks start throwing in the towel and bailing on the assignment.
God has given them because it’s burdensome and it’s weighty.
But if you’ll hang in there, this is the stage where you’ve got spiritual muscle coming to you where the strength that’s in you.
This is the stage where it starts to show up on the outside of you.
I’m talking about where folk can look at you and see that’s a peace that passes all understanding that that’s a joy that’s anchored in something different that they have hope when everybody else around them in the culture is hopeless.
Somehow there’s still a smile that is on their face. Why, why does she react like that?
Why does he speak like that? Why does he walk like that?
How is she able to make choices like that?
It’s because the strength that’s in you is taking shape on the outside of you.
It’s when our faith is not this intangible thing anymore. It’s spiritual muscle.
It’s structural integrity in the scaffolding of our house that is gonna keep it standing over the course of time and through the storms of life don’t give up in this season.
If you’re in this season today on this Sunday morning and things are hard.
And you’re just about to throw in the towel.
The Holy Spirit of God says, stay spiritual fortification is coming to your house right now in Jesus name.
And the reason you’ll need a solid foundation.
And the reason why you’re going to need sturdy scaffolding and fortification in your house is because He says, I’m writing to you fathers, you’re, you’re gonna graduate to mothers.
Please notice that. He does not say adults.
He says I’m writing to some spiritual parents.
These are people who have stood the course of time.
They’ve been through some storms and they have the scars and the wounds and the bruises to show you when they went through this hurricane and this hail storm and this rainstorm and when the 110 mile per hour winds were beating against their house.
And yet here they are in this season of their life and their house is still standing and spiritual parents are the one whose houses are still standing and they’re willing to fling open the front door and tell the people who are coming after them.
Come on in here and sit in my living room and let me testify to you about why serving Jesus is still worth it.
John says I’m writing to you fathers because you have known him who has been from the beginning.
This is the same John at the beginning of his gospel.
John chapter one verse one who said in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.
He’s talking about Jesus. He says, we need some people who have walked with Jesus long enough that they are able to declare unashamedly who Jesus is and that He is still worth serving.
We need some people in a culture and in a time that seeks to generalize God so that he is one of many options instead of an unmatched entity without comparison.
And with no counterparts, we need some people who are willing to declare without shame that Jesus is his name and that he is still worth serving.
Not because they heard about him through the testimony of somebody else.
No, it’s because their house is still standing and he has proven in their lives to be the chief cornerstone.
We need some spiritual mothers and fathers in the house of God. Y’all.
We’re not supposed to come to church and everybody is a millennial. Come on.
There have to be some mothers and some fathers who can tell the story who can testify to the fact that he is the chief cornerstone, that he’s the lily of the valley, that he’s the, one of whom the prophet spoke.
And it’s not just cliches to them.
They’re telling you because they’re a living witness that Jesus is worth it.
Those of you who are here at Concord Church and you’ve gone the distance.
You’ve been married for a minute, you’ve raised your Children. You’ve served God maybe faithfully at this church.
I know there are so many of you. I see your faces. You’ve been here for decades serving God.
We say thank you for having houses that are still standing.
Because your stability and your faithfulness allows those of us who are looking on to see that Jesus is worth it.
And for those of you young people who are in the house or you’re just starting out in some season of your life, know that he is faithful.
He’s worth serving and he is faithful and he is able to present you faultless before the throne with exceeding great joy.
He will carry you, he will sustain you. He will keep you until you see him face to face.
He’s worth it. So brothers and sisters stay, be faithful, whatever assignment the Lord has entrusted to you, put your hands to the plow and don’t look back many of you know that my uh mother went home to be with the Lord.
It’s been three years ago now unbelievably.
And in the last six weeks of her life, we kind of all knew, she knew these would probably be her last days with us, the four of us kids, our kids and then one of those kids has kids.
So my mother’s great grandchildren crowded around her room down the street here in our childhood home where dad still lives.
We were just there laying on the bed hanging out with her, all the kids and grand kids piled together.
And in those last days when she could speak to us, she was basically passing the baton of faith, looking us in our eyes and saying, don’t you dare drop this baton that in the face of death.
Her house of faith was still standing that she refused to let even the biggest disappointment of our lives y’all with the tears still falling and the discouragement and the disappointment and the disillusionment that God hadn’t answered our prayers and so many of our friends prayers he hadn’t answered, answered them in the way we hoped he would.
And in the way we knew he could see it’s hard when you know, he can do it.
But he doesn’t the discouragement of that, the heartbreak of that, the tears watching our father sob, those tears of sadness as he was losing his wife of 49 a half years.
And even in the face of all that to have a mama saying to us, this Madon Jesus is worth it.
And I decided watching my mama that whenever my time comes, what I wanna be doing is taking whatever Baton God has given me and passing it to my sons and my sons, sons and daughters and looking my posterity squarely in the face and saying you serve Jesus.
I want a house that’s still standing so concord family, whatever God has given you to do in your families and your ministries and your businesses, be faithful.
He’s worth it. Lord. I thank you so much for your word.
I thank you that you are coming soon and I pray father that by your spirit, you will sustain us so that we see you face to face.
We can hear well done in Jesus name. Amen.
And you’ll see why thousands meet God in powerful personal ways at her conferences and through her Bible study resources, she is the New York Times best selling author of more than two dozen books and has had featured roles in movies like War Room.
I can only imagine an overcomer Priscilla and her husband of 23 years, Jerry Shire meet going beyond ministries through which they provide spiritual support and resources to the body of Christ.
They count it as a privilege to serve every denomination and culture across the spectrum of the church.
Their greatest joy has been raising three young adult sons, Jackson, Jerry Junior and Jude Concord, help us welcome Priscilla Shire.
Good morning family.
It’s a pleasure to be with you this morning to have an opportunity to share with the Concord Church.
And uh for those of you who don’t know, I just go to church like one mile from here just down the street at Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship Church.
And so for all these many decades, we’ve just been in the same community in the same orbit doing life and community and church together.
So it feels like I’m at home with family.
Um And so it’s a pleasure to be able to, to serve you today. Thank you for having me.
I can’t let the opportunity pass by to celebrate your pastors and leaders, Brian and Stephanie Carter.
They are incredible people. They’re incredible people and really the Lord must love y’all that he let you have pastors that actually have integrity, like they do integrity in their marriage and their family, their ministry.
That’s a big deal. That’s a big deal. And uh we’re grateful for them.
I told the first service that um Jerry and I are just, just about 24 years into being married now and the first couple of years, thank you.
The first couple of years that we were married, we would go out with friends.
But really, it was like my friend, like I was friends with her and then she was married.
And so basically I was setting my husband up on play dates and about two or three years into our marriage.
He looked at me and said, stop setting me up on these play dates.
I don’t wanna meet your friends’, husbands and be set up with them.
So we stopped hanging out with people and I prayed for a long time that the Lord would give us a couple where the four of us were really knitted together on our hearts and the Lord answered that prayer for us with Brian and Stephanie Carter.
Um So for a lot of years now, a lot of years now, we’ve really just done life together and that’s been a blessing to us.
So it feels like a gift to be able to serve them in this way on this morning.
I’m excited about God’s Word and to share just what I think is a simple, yet important and profound challenge with you this morning.
It’s been a challenge for me. So I’m hoping it will encourage you as well this morning. Y’all ready?
Let’s pray, Lord Jesus. I thank you for your word that it is living and active and sharper than a two edged sword.
Father, I pray that you would take the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart make them acceptable to you.
Father. Build up your people today. We’re your sons and your daughters and we’re listening.
Lord, we came for a word from you, speak in jesus’ name. Amen. Hey, ma’am.
It was September in 2008.
Some of you may remember when a hurricane named Ike swept through, it caused extensive damage.
110 mile per hour per hour, winds ripped through towns across Texas, but there was one that was the hardest hit.
It’s a little town called Gilcrest. This little town is a community that boasts about 200 homes or so.
It’s not a big town, not a big community, but it’s where a lot of people in the latter years of their life decided that they would go so that they could have a little respite and peace during the retirement years of their life.
So they went to this little beachside community called Gilchrest so that they could have peace.
But y’all know how life is. The storm came in 2, 2008. I came through and devastated the community.
In fact, the aftermath was so devastating that people that visited the neighborhood 24 hours after the storm said that this little beach town community was almost completely unrecognizable.
What once had been friendly sidewalks and detailed landscape, lawns and brightly colored small homes right there on the shoreline of the water had been completely wiped out.
There was very little that even gave a nod to the fact that there had been history there, that there had been a neighborhood there of the 200 homes that had been standing the day before 199 of them had been wiped out by the storm.
It’s a completely odd and devastating and even shocking sight to look at this neighborhood because there’s only one house after the storm that remained man.
If I had time this morning, I’d tell you just about the owners of this house because they really gave testament to the fact that the only reason they think their house still stood is because they had been through previous storms.
And as a result of having been through previous storm, they had called in a master architect, a master builder and had asked them to help them to retrofit their home, to fortify it more securely so that for future storms, they would be able to stand.
And after I, they were the only house that remained, the reality is that if you look closely at that image, you will see and think about the fact that honestly, sadly, that picture mirrors the landscape of a lot of our own lives.
Because when you look around you, you’ll notice that there are a whole lot of people who started with you who you can realize now actually weren’t building houses that were meant to last.
They talked a good game at the beginning.
They meant well, maybe they had good intentions but the storm came and their houses ain’t still standing.
They made the vows to be committed, maybe to the marriage that they were building, the family that they had been entrusted with.
The ministry that the Lord was birthing through them, the business that they were starting, maybe as single men and women, you started out together deciding to walk in integrity.
But over time you realize that everybody’s house ain’t still standing.
And the landscape of our lives is dotted with houses that have been collapsing one after the other as people have not been able to weather the storm, I want to talk to you this morning about remaining about being faithful over the course of time about having houses that still stand, not just in one season and not just in the next and not just for one year or for two, not just through one storm or just a couple, but over the seasons of life on mountain tops and through valleys, you and I have got to be committed and making sure that that which the Lord has entrusted to us the assignments he’s given us the endeavors that he has put in our hearts to build for his glory.
That in the end, our houses are still intact. Where are the saints who will remain?
Where are the saints who will be faithful?
Where are the people who’ve decided that come he or hot water?
I’ve made my decision that as for me in my house, what we gonna do is we’re gonna serve the Lord.
The political landscape may change and the stock market may plump plummet and cultural ideals may shift.
But I’ve decided that my hope is built on nothing less but Christ and his faithfulness to me and that we will be faithful over the course of time.
Y’all, so many people are jumping ship.
Have you noticed so many people have decided that they are going to leave their marriage or give up on the parent, the uh parenting endeavor that God has given them with their Children.
Dreamers are throwing in the towel on dreams. God entrusted to them ministers are quitting.
What they said was a calling.
Why is it such a rarity to find people who’ve just decided to stay, who just decided to be faithful and in a room this size and with so many people I know who are not on only in the room but probably also watching online.
I it would be remiss of me to think that there are so many of us from so many diverse backgrounds and experiences and dynamics, different seasons and generations of life that there are so many of us.
Probably more than a few who honestly, if the truth be told on this Sunday morning, you are on the brink of jumping ship because right now this season of your life, if we were to take this little microphone and just start right here in the front and pass it all the way to the back, all of us could give testimony of hardship, maybe that we are currently facing or have just come out of.
And the reality is that all of us in this room are in one of three places.
You’re either right smack dab in the middle of a storm, you’re on your way into one or you’re on your way out of one because it’s the nature of the life we live.
And maybe this Sunday morning has met you at a time where honestly you have said to the Lord, if you yourself.
Don’t tell me to hang on that.
I’m throwing in the towel and I just believe that possibly the Holy Spirit just sent me over from Arlington, Texas.
Just to tell you in the name of Jesus Christ.
Stay, remain, be faithful.
Keep your hand to the plow, keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, have integrity, have character and remained.
Y’all the older and older I get the less impressed I am with the, with the famous and the more I impressed I am with the faithful, the people who have just gone the distance.
They may not be famous, but they’ve remained, they may not be rich, but they’ve remained.
They may not be applauded by the masses, but they’ve remained, they may not have millions of followers on Facebook or best selling books, but they ain’t concerned about that.
They’re just trying to be steadfast, unmoved and always abounding in the work of the Lord brothers and sisters. Stay.
John writes about staying over and over throughout his gospel over 40 times in the book of the Gospel of John, he writes the word abide, that’s the word for remain, stay dwell, dig your roots deep and be steady.
And then in his letters, 1st, 2nd and 3rd John, three epistles scholars call those the remaining trio, the remaining or staying trifecta because over and over again in 1st, 2nd and 3rd, John, he keeps writing this about this challenge to us to remain, to be faithful to stay in the good times, but also especially in the bad times to stay over the course of time.
So I wanna read a couple of verses to you from first John chapter two.
I’m gonna read verse 13 and 14 and then verse 28 it says this, I am writing to you fathers because you know him who has been from the beginning.
I have written to you young men because you have overcome the evil one.
I have written to you Children because you know the father, it’s so important that he repeats it almost verbatim.
In verse 14, I have written to you fathers because you know Him who has been from the beginning, I have written to young men because you are strong and the word of God abides in you and you have overcome the evil one.
And then verse 28 and now little Children, here’s our word abide in Him.
Some of your translations might say remain in Him so that when he appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from him at his coming.
John says, I’m gonna tell you right now what the catalyst is for the reason why I’m telling you to remain.
What the reason is. What your why will be as to whether or not you will choose, I will choose to be faithful over the course of time.
He says, abide remain, stay, be faithful, build a house that will last over the course of time.
And he says, I’m gonna tell you why. Verse 28 because Jesus is coming.
That’s why because Jesus is on the way. Y’all listen.
I don’t mean in theory, I mean the sky is gonna split.
I’m telling you the trumpet is gonna sound.
I’m telling you, Jesus is coming back and when he returns, we’re gonna have to look our savior in his eyes and give an account for what we did with this life that he entrusted to us.
First. We’re going to have to answer the question whether or not we were in relationship with God by placing faith in Jesus Christ.
And then right after we seal that the next thing will be was that the Lord will look at our lives to see whether or not the houses he entrusted to us are still standing, whether or not we were faithful with the time, the talent and the treasures that he gave us on this side of eternity.
John says, the reason why you wanna make sure your house is still intact over time is because eternity is in view.
And when eternity is constantly in our view, brothers and sisters, when we’re reminded of the fact that one day Jesus is going to return.
And by the way, I think that day is coming sooner than we think.
He says, when you keep eternity in view, it changes the way you deal with the stuff of earth.
The decisions that you make the responses and reactions that you give to people, the words that you use the steps that you take the forward motion that you determine in your businesses and in your ministries and in your relationships with your spouses and with your Children and your grandchildren.
He says you’re gonna want to build a house that is firm and solid and that stands over the course of time because you’re going to have to give an account for this house of yours.
Did you notice that in verse 13 and 14, John actually deals very specifically with the fact.
In fact, he recognizes that there are stages and seasons of this remaining of being faithful.
He recognizes the fact that every season of life isn’t going to be the same.
He says, I’m writing to you little Children. Then he says, I’m writing to you young men that’s adolescence.
Then he says, I’m writing to you fathers.
He acknowledges that there are stages and seasons of life, seasons of development, progression, maturity that one season will lend itself to different hardships or difficulties or joys or sorrows than another.
There are different storms that come in different seasons of life.
But he says, I’m writing to you in each stage so that you will remain wherever you are in whatever season or stage you find yourself in on this Sunday morning.
He says I’m challenging you to remain there until God releases you so that you can have a sturdy house that will remain over the course of time.
I figure that for just a few moments, what you and I can do is just look at these three stages of faithfulness so that we can see where we are in the progression.
The bottom of verse 13, the last line of verse 13 starts us out.
He says, I have written to you Children and he says, here’s why I’m writing to you when you’re in that phase of your growth, I’m writing to you Children because you have come to know the father.
He says, I’m writing to you when you’re in the infancy stage.
The word in the original language that he uses that is translated. Children refers to an infant.
Think about what babies do. They rest on the shoulders of the one who loves them the most they don’t produce, they don’t generate, they don’t offer much.
They just relax in the embrace of the one who gave birth to them.
They learned to know the voice of their mother or father.
They learned to know that they can be covered and taken care of and nourished and provided by the one who gave them life.
He says, I’m writing to you little Children when you’re in the infancy stage in any season or any uh dynamic in your life.
Maybe you just came to know Christ as Savior.
You’re just starting out on this spiritual journey or you just started putting feet to the dream God has entrusted to you for that, for the endeavor.
Or you’re just starting out in the ministry building, the ministry that God has given you or the two of you just walked down and said, I do.
You’re just starting this family. You’re in some infancy stage in your life.
He says, I’m writing to you little Children when you’re in that phase.
Because the whole goal to build a solid foundation for this house of yours, the whole goal of your life when you’re in the infancy stage should be verse 13 to come to know who your daddy is.
There’s no way the foundation of your house will be firm unless you know your father Jerry.
And I, as was mentioned, um you saw a picture of us with our boys, three boys that we got an opportunity to travel a whole lot with through their lifetime with ministry.
We’ve just been traveling a lot, we home school them for a lot of years so that they could come on the journey with us.
And one of the place we got to take them about five years ago was to Cape Town, South Africa.
And because we were home schooling, I planned what they were learning uh based on the fact that I knew they were gonna get to go to Cape Town, we knew a year in advance that we were gonna go.
So we saved up money for them to go man, we thought this might be a once in a lifetime thing.
Let’s take the boys with us. And so we saved up the money to go.
We planned home schooling around it.
So I was thinking, ok, we’re gonna learn about the Apartheid Museum or, or, or the Apartheid Movement.
We’re gonna learn about Nelson Mandela.
We’re gonna look at the geography of Table Mountain and lions head and maybe even see some animals in online that are indigenous to that particular area.
And my goal was that six weeks later when we went there, we would actually see those things in person.
So we took the boys and I think that they thought they were going on vacation.
Mm mm Not today.
You waking up every day and seeing whatever there is to see over here in this good Cape Town.
We’re gonna milk this experience. So I was waking up up early in the morning.
They had attitudes about having to get up. They thought they were just gonna be relaxing in the hotel.
And I was like, no, you’re gonna see all this and you’re gonna be happy about it.
And one day you’re gonna rise up and call me Blessed Shucks.
So I’m dragging them all around me and Jerry and making them see Table Mountain.
Let’s go to the top of Table Mountain. Let’s go to the Apartheid Museum.
Let’s take this little ferry over to Robben Island so we can see where Nelson Mandela was in prison for all those years.
And one of the things that we did was we woke up before the sun came up one morning and we traveled two hours outside of Cape Town.
So we could do a little half day safari.
I wanted them to possibly, and I wanted to see some animals that maybe we’d only seen online.
So we got in this open face, Jeep. There was a very bubbly guy that was our, our guide.
He sat at the front of the Jeep and we began to go around this safari park, we saw lots of animals that we had never ever seen before in person.
And I remember specifically though when we stopped by a herd of zebra.
And I can consciously remember thinking when the, when the dude pulled up to the zebra, I remember thinking, I hope he don’t spend a whole lot of time talking about the zebra because we can see zebra at the Dallas Zoo down the street.
We don’t need an explanation about the zebra.
But after he stopped and explained what was on his mind to share. I was so glad he did.
He pointed out a baby, a fool that was with the herd.
He said, y’all see that baby zebra right there.
He says, I’m stopping at the zebra to point out that baby because this is the first time I’ve seen the baby back with the herd since the baby was born two or three weeks ago.
And he said, I wanna tell y’all why.
He said the stripes on every single zebra are as unique to each zebra as thumbprints on human beings.
You can’t see it with the naked eye, but particularly the configuration of stripes that are right there in the middle of the forehead of every zebra.
It is just as distinct as fingerprints on human beings.
So when a new baby zebra is born, the mother will take that full aside from the herd for the first two or three weeks of his or her life because her whole goal is to make sure that her baby is not distracted by all the configuration of stripes that are on the foreheads of all the other zebra.
The mother wants to bait the baby to just zero in on the stripes that are on her forehead.
So that when she brings the baby back to all the other stripes, the baby will not be confused ever about the configuration of stripes that actually belongs to the one who gave him life.
John says the whole reason why you want to take time to get to know who your father is is because y’all we live in a day and age that are trying to present too much a whole bunch of closely configured stripes.
And if you’re not careful, you’re gonna get played for the fool.
You gonna have to know that by his stripes and his stripes alone are the ones by which you have been healed.
You’re gonna have to know who your father is.
You’re gonna have to know his character. You’re gonna have to know the sound of his voice.
You’re going to have to know the, what the way he related to, to Moses and Joshua and Ruth and Esther and them.
You’ll have to see him in the New Testament of the world.
Word became flesh and dwelt among them and they got to behold his glory, the glory of the only begotten fool of grace and full of truth.
And the reason why you’re gonna have to know is so that when the culture presents to you a new modernized version of this Jesus, the one who is silent against injustice and has lowered his standard of holiness.
You need to be able to see that version and say, oh, that’s not who he is because I know who he was.
You need to have taken time to really get to know who your father is.
John says, don’t circumvent this part of the the process. Infancy is for intimacy.
It’s for you to get to know who your daddy is.
And those of you on this youth Sunday that are young people in the house of God.
Listen, don’t circumvent or negate this part of the process.
Don’t succumb to the pressure that you need to be something other than where you are right now.
Just getting to know who your daddy is in this hustle growing culture.
That’s telling all of us we have to produce more and do more and be more.
No, sometimes we just need to sit down somewhere and get to know who our daddy is.
Pediatricians will tell you not to bounce babies too early on their legs to resist the temptation to put too much pressure on their legs too soon because even the most minute amount of pressure too soon because their bones are so malleable and soft can cause just slight distortion in their spine.
And you won’t see it initially. It’s over years. It’s as they mature, it’s as their body grows.
You will see they just have a little bit the slightest little limp in their step because there was too much pressure put on them too soon.
And y’all, we have a generation of young people who had too much pressure put on them too soon and you don’t see it initially.
It’s later on in their lives when they’re walking with a spiritual limp with their morality is off.
Their conscience is skewed. It’s because they didn’t take time to just get to know who their daddy is.
You need to just know that in Genesis, he’s the breath of life.
You need to see him in Exodus as the Passover lamb.
You need to come to know him in Leviticus as your high priest. You need to know that in numbers.
He’s the fire by night. And in Deuteronomy, he is Israel’s guide.
You need to see him in Joshua as salvation’s choice.
And in judges as Israel’s guard, you need to know that in Ruth he is the kinsman redeemer.
You need to have seen him in 1st and 2nd Samuel as our trusted prophet.
You need to know that in kings and chronicles, he is sovereign and you need to have seen him in Ezra as the true and faithful scribe and in Nehemiah as the one who rebuilds walls and rebuilds lives.
You need to know that in Esther, he is your courage and in job, he’s the timeless redeemer.
You need to have taken time to see him in Psalms as your morning song.
And in Proverbs as your wisdom, you need to have seen that in ecclesiastics.
He’s a time and he is a season in the song of Solomon. He’s the lover’s dream and Isaiah.
He’s the prince of peace and Jeremiah, he’s the weeping prophet and lamentation. He’s the cry for Israel and Esther.
He’s the call from sin and Daniel, he’s the stranger in the fire and Hosea. He’s the forever faithful.
You need to know that in Joel, he’s the spirit’s power and in Amos, he’s the strong arms that carry and die.
Yeah. He’s the Lord, our savior in Jonah. He’s the great missionary in Micah.
He’s the promise of peace in name. He’s our strength and shield in Habakkuk and Zephaniah.
He brings revival in ha you need to know.
He’s the one who restores that, which was once lost in Zachariah.
He is our fountain and in Malachi, he’s the son of righteousness rising with healing in his wings.
And y’all, that’s just who he is in the Old Testament because the truth is if you wait about 400 years and you just flip over a couple of pages, you’ll see that in Matthew, Mark Luke and John.
He’s not just God. Now, he’s your Messiah.
And in the spirit filled book of Acts, he’s the reigning fire from heaven in Romans.
He’s the grace of God Corinthians. He’s the power of love in Galatians.
He’s freedom from the curse of sin in Ephesians. He’s our glorious treasure in Philippians.
He’s the servant’s heart in Colossians. He’s God and the Trinity in Thessalonian.
He’s our calling king in Timothy, Titus and Philemon.
He shows up as our mediator and our faithful pastor in Hebrews. He’s the everlasting courage in James.
He’s the one who will still heal you when you’re sick.
In 1st and 2nd Peter, he’s our faithful shepherd and in John and Jude, he’s the lover coming for his pride and in the revelation in the very end when it’s all over and said and done.
He was and is and will always be the first, the last, the beginning and the end.
That’s who he is. Amen.
Take time to get to know who your daddy is.
Remain here till he releases you because if you abort this part of the process, you will have no character.
Your foundation won’t be solid. And let me tell you something.
If the spotlight that you’re craving, if it hits you and you have no character, it will burn you to a crisp.
John says the reason why you’re going to need to have a sturdy character in your fledgling stages is because you are going to grow up and become young men, young women.
He’s referring to puberty here. He’s referring to adolescence. He says, you’ll know when you’re in this stage.
Verse 13, I am writing to you young men because you have overcome the evil one.
He reiterated it in verse 14 and says, I’m writing to you when you’re in the adolescent stage because you are strong.
This is the stage where you get some muscle on you.
So um our boys are huge y’all, they’re huge. They’re giants. They’ve been giants.
Somebody come help me feed these people. Oh my goodness.
When they were 13 years old, 12 years old, we could tell they were gonna be powerful boys about that age is when they would all sprout up to about six ft two inch tall.
They were a size 14 men’s shoe.
Uh They have been big for a long time and it’s about the time they’re about 12 years old that I recognize their, their strength, how powerful they are because that’s about the time they could toss me on the couch when we were wrestling and they could pin me down and I realized, oh, I’m out like they got me.
Anybody know what I’m talking about where you realize your kids got you.
And it was about 11 or 12 with each of our sons where I realized, oh, yeah, y’all gonna have to wrestle with your daddy.
I’m not gonna be able to do it anymore.
It wasn’t until the latter years of teenage years that their father allowed their coaches to add weights to their training.
Before then he was like, no, they’re too young.
They can do push ups and stuff, but don’t put any weight on them until they’re older.
Once they started lifting weight, the power that was in them started to take shape on the outside of them like there were biceps and triceps, their chests were rounded.
This is when they started walking around the house with their shirts off thinking they had swag.
I was like, boy that’s nasty.
Put your shirt on the power was in them.
But now it started to be evident on the outside of them.
John says this is the adolescent stage. You know, you’re in it when life is weighty.
When the heaviness of that particular dynamic, the heaviness of marriage, the heaviness of parenting, the struggle in your finances, the struggle on your business or in your ministry, man, this feels like weight that you do not feel like you have the power or the strength to keep on lifting.
He says I’m writing to you today to remain through this season because this is the season where most people jump ship.
This is the season where folks start throwing in the towel and bailing on the assignment.
God has given them because it’s burdensome and it’s weighty.
But if you’ll hang in there, this is the stage where you’ve got spiritual muscle coming to you where the strength that’s in you.
This is the stage where it starts to show up on the outside of you.
I’m talking about where folk can look at you and see that’s a peace that passes all understanding that that’s a joy that’s anchored in something different that they have hope when everybody else around them in the culture is hopeless.
Somehow there’s still a smile that is on their face. Why, why does she react like that?
Why does he speak like that? Why does he walk like that?
How is she able to make choices like that?
It’s because the strength that’s in you is taking shape on the outside of you.
It’s when our faith is not this intangible thing anymore. It’s spiritual muscle.
It’s structural integrity in the scaffolding of our house that is gonna keep it standing over the course of time and through the storms of life don’t give up in this season.
If you’re in this season today on this Sunday morning and things are hard.
And you’re just about to throw in the towel.
The Holy Spirit of God says, stay spiritual fortification is coming to your house right now in Jesus name.
And the reason you’ll need a solid foundation.
And the reason why you’re going to need sturdy scaffolding and fortification in your house is because He says, I’m writing to you fathers, you’re, you’re gonna graduate to mothers.
Please notice that. He does not say adults.
He says I’m writing to some spiritual parents.
These are people who have stood the course of time.
They’ve been through some storms and they have the scars and the wounds and the bruises to show you when they went through this hurricane and this hail storm and this rainstorm and when the 110 mile per hour winds were beating against their house.
And yet here they are in this season of their life and their house is still standing and spiritual parents are the one whose houses are still standing and they’re willing to fling open the front door and tell the people who are coming after them.
Come on in here and sit in my living room and let me testify to you about why serving Jesus is still worth it.
John says I’m writing to you fathers because you have known him who has been from the beginning.
This is the same John at the beginning of his gospel.
John chapter one verse one who said in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.
He’s talking about Jesus. He says, we need some people who have walked with Jesus long enough that they are able to declare unashamedly who Jesus is and that He is still worth serving.
We need some people in a culture and in a time that seeks to generalize God so that he is one of many options instead of an unmatched entity without comparison.
And with no counterparts, we need some people who are willing to declare without shame that Jesus is his name and that he is still worth serving.
Not because they heard about him through the testimony of somebody else.
No, it’s because their house is still standing and he has proven in their lives to be the chief cornerstone.
We need some spiritual mothers and fathers in the house of God. Y’all.
We’re not supposed to come to church and everybody is a millennial. Come on.
There have to be some mothers and some fathers who can tell the story who can testify to the fact that he is the chief cornerstone, that he’s the lily of the valley, that he’s the, one of whom the prophet spoke.
And it’s not just cliches to them.
They’re telling you because they’re a living witness that Jesus is worth it.
Those of you who are here at Concord Church and you’ve gone the distance.
You’ve been married for a minute, you’ve raised your Children. You’ve served God maybe faithfully at this church.
I know there are so many of you. I see your faces. You’ve been here for decades serving God.
We say thank you for having houses that are still standing.
Because your stability and your faithfulness allows those of us who are looking on to see that Jesus is worth it.
And for those of you young people who are in the house or you’re just starting out in some season of your life, know that he is faithful.
He’s worth serving and he is faithful and he is able to present you faultless before the throne with exceeding great joy.
He will carry you, he will sustain you. He will keep you until you see him face to face.
He’s worth it. So brothers and sisters stay, be faithful, whatever assignment the Lord has entrusted to you, put your hands to the plow and don’t look back many of you know that my uh mother went home to be with the Lord.
It’s been three years ago now unbelievably.
And in the last six weeks of her life, we kind of all knew, she knew these would probably be her last days with us, the four of us kids, our kids and then one of those kids has kids.
So my mother’s great grandchildren crowded around her room down the street here in our childhood home where dad still lives.
We were just there laying on the bed hanging out with her, all the kids and grand kids piled together.
And in those last days when she could speak to us, she was basically passing the baton of faith, looking us in our eyes and saying, don’t you dare drop this baton that in the face of death.
Her house of faith was still standing that she refused to let even the biggest disappointment of our lives y’all with the tears still falling and the discouragement and the disappointment and the disillusionment that God hadn’t answered our prayers and so many of our friends prayers he hadn’t answered, answered them in the way we hoped he would.
And in the way we knew he could see it’s hard when you know, he can do it.
But he doesn’t the discouragement of that, the heartbreak of that, the tears watching our father sob, those tears of sadness as he was losing his wife of 49 a half years.
And even in the face of all that to have a mama saying to us, this Madon Jesus is worth it.
And I decided watching my mama that whenever my time comes, what I wanna be doing is taking whatever Baton God has given me and passing it to my sons and my sons, sons and daughters and looking my posterity squarely in the face and saying you serve Jesus.
I want a house that’s still standing so concord family, whatever God has given you to do in your families and your ministries and your businesses, be faithful.
He’s worth it. Lord. I thank you so much for your word.
I thank you that you are coming soon and I pray father that by your spirit, you will sustain us so that we see you face to face.
We can hear well done in Jesus name. Amen.
