Hanging Tough Together . . . and Loving It │ Msg 9/14

In the sweltering summer way back in 1776, ((music playing)) delegates to the Continental Congress were debating among themselves as they carefully ((music playing)) crafted the words of Thomas Jefferson's draft of the Declaration of Independence. ((music playing)) Each man understood as he leaned over that document to sign his name that in truth he was signing his own death warrant.

If that newborn nation failed to secure independence from the motherland, Great Britain, [clears throat] with a heavy threat in the air, Benjamin Franklin was recorded as saying, "We must all hang together, or most assuredly, we shall all hang separately." Classic statement, isn't it? Their determination to hang tough eventually brought about American independence.

But it wasn't their decision to sign the Declaration that made them independent. Independence was achieved through agonizing effort. Never forget that. As is true of freedom, so it is with all of life. Dreaming and planning and hoping will never accomplish much without concentrated effort and a disciplined willingness to persevere.

The Apostle Paul is a great example. He was one who joyfully persevered, hanging tough in order to reach his goal. That's why I've titled today's message hanging tough together and loving it. To prepare ourselves for it, open your Bibles to the letter to the Philippians, chapter 3. Here we will read Paul's declaration to remain tough, to persevere to the end regardless.

I'll read from Philippians chapter 3, beginning at verse 12. Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet.

But one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude, and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you.

However, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained. On the same day every year, there are secret dreams entertained by the young. Some of them are little boys not yet into even junior high school. Some of them are teenagers that are now in their high school years.

And some of them are distinguishing themselves as university students. They have secret dreams about the same thing. They are [snorts] all athletes. And though they never tell their parents the dream, they have the same dream. Though they never tell each other they have the dream, they still dream it.

That same Sunday every year has come to be known as Super Bowl Sunday. And the dream is that he will someday be in the starting lineup of one of those 22 players on the field battling for and hoping hoping to win the ultimate trophy of that particular sport.

Few reach their dreams. A little 10-year-old boy was sitting in the stands at the first Super Bowl game way back years ago, now decades ago. It so happened that his father had found a couple of tickets available because, as sports fans will remember, that first Super Bowl was not sold out.

And so his dad took his boy in hand and they set up high at the stadium at the Los Angeles Coliseum and they watched these players. This little 10-year-old boy watched Bart Star and Boyd Dowler and Fuzzy Thirsten and Paul Harung and names like Kramer and Willie Wood and other names that you could name. all these fellas who played for the legendary Green Bay Packers who won the game hands down.

The little boy never said a word to his father about it, but he entertained a dream. Someday, he thought, "I will be on that playing field. Someday I will be in the Super Bowl." That little boy went through high school and then into college and finished his work at Stanford and then went from one pro team to another.

And would you believe it on the 25th anniversary of the Super Bowl, that little boy's who's now 34 years old dream was fulfilled. The oldest man playing on the Buffalo Bills squad wide receiver James Loftton. just a little fellow 10 years old looking at a game 25 years before and now realizing now seeing the dream come true.

I can't tell you what makes football fans out of other people. I can only speak for myself and tell you that the game that the game is really to me an analogy of life. And I think the most obvious analogy is that you don't get through life by dreaming or for that matter by simply planning or if I may say it by simply praying.

You get through the game of life by hanging tough regardless. By not giving up when you encounter obstacles. By not quitting because you have critics who come at you from both sides. By not stopping because of pain or giving up because you are weary. In the final analysis, life is won by hanging tough.

You know, you don't get that when you browse through bookstores and look at the popular titles of the day. I found myself in a in a bookstore as recently as last evening and I I sort of lingered over the um business and management and motivational section just to take a look at some titles that are offered today to get people to buy books.

Listen to a few of these and see if they reflect hard work and hanging tough and and being there through the long haul. One title is passport to prosperity. Another one is called winning Moves. Another I'm sure highly spiritual work is entitled True Greed. I like this one.

Leadership Secrets of Attilla the Hun. It's there on a shelf. You can find it. Winning through intimidation. Cashing in on the American dream. How to retire at 35. The art of selfishness. Techniques that take you to the top. How to get what you really want. Now, secrets of quick success.

That one especially turned my stomach. There is no quick success. There is no secret, some special plan that will help you get to the top in a half an hour or for that matter half a year or half a lifetime. Ask any person who has succeeded in the realm of his or her career and they'll name two words.

Hard work. Hanging tough we say today regardless. And as much as you may not want to hear that coming from the Bible, that is indeed the Christian life in a nutshell. It is not dreamy praying. It is not goofy songs. It is not sitting on a hilltop strumming a guitar eating bird seed singing do Lord.

It isn't some kind of passive dreamy wonderful ethereal existence where you wind up in heaven fully rewarded for a life well done. It is hanging tough against all odds. It is living with the sword over your head. I think if any one of us were we to be able to corner that particular wide receiver for the Buffalo Bills, if any one of us were to ask him how he got to where he is as the oldest man on the squad finally in the Super Bowl, he would tell you I hung tough.

The Apostle Paul in the third chapter of Philippians writes the same kind of thing in different words. And you will find no so-called quick and easy secret to living the Christian life in the middle of Philippians chapter 3. As a matter of fact, you will find that the race is won by locating the right objective and relentlessly pursuing it.

Finding the right objective, then relentlessly pursuing it day after day, in season and out of season, year after year, like raising a family, like repeating the same restrictions, like standing on the same standard, like going over the same rules in the home, like living the same message day after day, year after year, decade after decade.

And then finally it works. The apostle writes in Philippians 3 verse 12. Not that I've already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on. And verse 14, I press on. But wait now, there's a context in which he says this. And we need to understand where he's coming from.

You don't just pick up the a novel and begin on page 37. You don't find a newspaper and start reading in the middle of the column on the third page. You go into the context of it to make it help it make sense. What's he getting at becoming perfect and having already obtained and what's on his mind?

Well, you may have forgotten that he has just gone through his testimony telling us about a changed life. And what a story he has told. Verse four of chapter 3 concludes, "If anyone has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more I more than they."

Now, a person reading it for the first time would say, "It sounds like arrogance to me." Well, you're right. He did live an arrogant life. before his life was invaded by another person. You see, the apostle was on his way to the top. He was, if you please, being groomed for the top seat in the Supreme Court among the Jews called then the Sanhedrin, the top rulers of the nation.

His name had become a household word. He had won all of the honors. He had accomplished all of the achievements. He had the heritage, the schooling, the toutelage, the respect, the zeal. So much so that he eclipsed all of his contemporaries. His name was a household word. He had name recognition.

Saul of Tarsus, the epitome of legalistic righteousness. Blameless is the word he uses as to the law of Pharisee. Verse 5. As to righteousness which is in the law. Verse six, blameless I had arrived. If any man could have worked his way to the approbation of God, I had done it.

And then the Damascus road experience I I broke. Everything changed. This Jesus had the audacity to invade my life. John Pollock in a work entitled The Man Who Shook the World describes it better than I. Saul could not believe what he heard and saw. All his convictions, intellect, and training, his reputation, his self-respect demanded that Jesus should not be alive again.

He played for time and replied, "Uh, who who are you, Lord?" He used a mode of address which might mean no more than your honor. I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you this kicking against the goat. Then he knew in a second that seemed an eternity.

Saul saw the wounds of Jesus hands and feet. He saw the face and knew that he had seen the Lord, that he was alive. As Steven and the others had said, and that he loved not only those whom Paul whom Saul persecuted, but Saul himself. It is hard for you to kick against the goats.

Not one word of reproach. Saul had never admitted to himself that he had felt pricks of a goad as he raged against Steven and his disciples. Now instantaneously he was shatteringly aware that he had had been fighting Jesus and fighting himself, his conscience, his powerlessness, the darkness and chaos in his soul.

God now hovered over this chaos and brought him to the moment of new creation. It wanted only his yes. Saul broke. What shall I do, Lord? I was sitting in Seminary Chapel back in 1959, Dallas Theological Seminary, and I was listening to Alan Redpath, then pastor of the famed Moody Memorial Church.

I was taking notes, as I often did when listening to chapel speakers, and suddenly I stopped taking notes. He made a statement that burned its way right into the creases of my brain. He made the comment, "When God wants to do an impossible task, he takes an impossible man and crushes him."

Paul was crushed, shattered, says Pollock. That's why verse seven of Philippians 3 begins with but. Having achieved all of those honors, having won all of those awards, having gotten all of the applause, HAVING IMPRESSED ALL OF MY CONTEMPORARIES, but God pulled them all off the wall. He sent all of that into virtual oblivion as he won my heart as Christ came in.

Whatever things were gained to me in my former years, those things I have now counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ, my Lord, for whom I've suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish.

We looked at that last time. It's trash. That I might win Christ. I love that next verse. and I might be found in him. Not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.

I have been justified. God's love has invaded. He's changed me. Justified the sovereign act of God whereby he declares righteous the believing sinner while still in a sinning state. Here I am in a sinning state and Jesus declares me righteous by his grace. Now my purpose is different.

Verse 10, the Amplified Bible renders it beautifully. That I may know him. That is that I may progressively become more intimately acquainted with him. Isn't that good? progressively become more intimately acquainted with him and discover fellowship even in the sufferings. A changed man. Life isn't made up of a quick secret sitting in the stands watching the game being played knowing that it's so facto I'll be there.

Life is in fact a daily crushing, an experience in the classroom of hardship. And I've discovered that the way I make it is by pressing on, hanging tough regardless. I want you to hear that because you're not going to see it in the media and you're not going to read it from the shelves.

You'll get it from the book of God. And some of you are going through hellacious times. And unless I miss my guess, you're getting a little disillusioned thinking you've missed the Christian life along the way. Maybe somebody has a secret and you're sitting duck waiting for the cult to promise you some new great innovative idea that will lift you above this time and place you in another realm while living on this earth on and on and on.

Odd invenitum oddnauseium and if you are not careful you will buy into that and you will miss the message of true Christianity. Christ himself said, "I did not come to bring a peace but a sword." So the apostle says, "Some of you might think now that I have Christ, I have I have arrived.

I have I have reached a level that that very few will reach." No, I press on. I've studied these five verses very carefully. 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. And as I've studied them, I have found five parts of that whole idea of hanging tough regardless. I I think that makes for a good slogan, but it doesn't spell it out.

And anybody who cares about their walk with Christ wants to know how to do it. What's involved in pressing on? What's what does it mean to hang tough in season and out of season, day after day, uh cold or hot, young or old? How do I do it?

Let me give you these five statements that I I find sort of bubbling up out of this passage. Number one, the plan is progress, not perfection. The plan is progress, not perfection. In fact, he says it two or three times in the first couple of verses. Not that I have already obtained it.

Not that I have already become perfect, but I press on. Look at 13. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet. I haven't arrived. I haven't come to a place of sinless perfection. I get nervous, by the way, when I'm around men who talk about their being in that state.

I always want to visit with their wives. There's something in me that just won't accept it. And I I find that a disillusioning state of mind that one teaches to another individual that there can be a state of sinless perfection. Not as long as we are on this earth.

So many intent on their pursuit of godliness and Christlikkeness, which is the word it, the definition of it. I have not having laid hold of it yet. Christlikkeness, that's what he's pursuing. So many in their intent pursuit of that uh don't remember that they have to constantly live with imperfections and their expectations will be dashed and there will not be uh the absence of humanity.

On the contrary, there will be frequent touches of humanity and disappointment. That's all part of the journey. That's why I'm saying this first of several principles I want to give you is that the the plan is progress not perfection. If you are a perfectionist, this kind of teaching drives you nuts because YOU YOU WANT SO MUCH to do it all without a flaw.

You can't. Furthermore, neither can anybody else. So, give us a break. Uh perfectionists are people who take pains and give them to other people. And I I want to warn you if you are given to that kind of thinking, back off. Remember, if the apostle had not attained, if he had not become perfect, if he hadn't laid hold of it yet, neither have you, and neither has anyone else.

The plan is progress, not perfection. Second, he continues, "Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind." The second statement I would give you is that the past is over. Leave it. The past is over.

Leave it. forgetting what lies behind. This um word forgetting in the original text is a word for completely forgetting. Absolutely forgetting. It's an athletic term of a runner who has outstripped another runner on the course and that that one now in first place does not turn and look back to see the location of the one he has just outrun.

He doesn't look back and focus there. He looks forward and focuses on the tape. Forgetting what is behind. Well, what is behind? Uh if I gave you categories, I could only name two. First of all, there are great attainments and great achievements, great moments of accomplishment and glory.

That's fine. That's good. But you can't live there. I find that people who live in the glory of past achievements slacken their efforts for what they might be able to do today. They keep calling to mind the way they were something God did some great accomplishment he performed and it's always yestery year.

Uh it that can be by the way the sound of the death nail over a church. A church can live in the days of past glory. A Christian organization can live in the days when we were a great place. And you're heading for trouble when you do that.

The apostle says, "Forget what lies behind." The second uh in the past is failure and areas of disappointment and defeat. And we all have them. Now, we're to learn lessons from them, but to to to to keep uh plowing that same old field and picking fruit from that same old uh putrid uh uh tree, it does nothing but defeat you and steal your courage for today and for facing tomorrow.

So, uh let's just pause and ask ourselves, uh do you tend to do that? Do you tend to focus on on the past more than you should? The apostle says, "I press on and in doing it, I forget what lies behind." Now, the third, "The future holds out hope.

Reach for it." See how he says it here? Forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead. I press on. I love this part of it. Again, he uses an athletic term. Probably has reference to chariot races in the early Olympian games. Now, I have never seen a chariot.

Uh I saw Charlton H uh on a chariot. You may have seen that movie where they had this chariot race and I I studied that chariot real carefully. I noticed there are no handles on it. It's a rather precarious thing to be a chariot. Apparently, it was a a precarious thing to be a chariot driver.

First of all, you're wearing a skirt. And second, you got long boots that come up to your knees and and you got nothing to hold on to but these but these rains for the horses and you got other people that have big jagged things on their wheels and they're going to try to beat you in this race.

And I noticed that one thing that the winner did was that he leaned forward. He reached forward not only to keep his balance and to stay in that silly little thing where there wasn't a lot of room to start with, but he he he reached forward driving those horses.

And there's a sense of passion in that race. That's the word here. Forgetting what lies behind, I reach forward in this race called life. pressing on, determined to win. Now, I I I want you to look at the words as they appear in the text because that's far more important than than my comments.

I verse 13, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet. So, it's a it's a plan that's a progress, not perfection. But I forget what lies behind. The past is is done. So leave it. And I reach forward forward to what lies ahead. I press on.

He says it again. I don't stop. I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. I stretch as if in a race. Is that you? Only you can answer that question. Are are you engaged in that kind of of a progressive living?

Or are you hung up on something from the past? or are you overfocused in something out there that's some kind of dream that is far from reality? In it all, the game plan is to hang tough and to live with this sense of quest in mind. I remember hearing uh um Ray Ortland, a pastor friend of of mine and of many of us talk about how uh when he learned to preach, he learned to preach on the ball of his balls of his feet as he would lean forward and there's a sense of passion in that.

I I see the apostle living his life on the balls of his feet, leaning forward. He's not kicking back and and uh sort of a peaceful alliance or passive coexistence with the enemy. He is on a quest. Let me ask you, does the name Robert Ballard mean anything to anybody?

Maybe to to some of you. Uh Robert Ballard is a man who lived with a quest. Um, he is the one who discovered on September 1, 1985, the sunken HMS Titanic. He's the one who sent down that bright probe light more than 2 miles deep in the North Atlantic, over 350 miles off the coast of New Foundland, where the the old uh beautiful ship had sunk.

He writes this in a work where he recorded his his feelings at that moment. My first direct view of Titanic lasted less than two minutes, but the stark sight of her immense black hole towering above the ocean floor will remain forever ingrained in my memory. My lifelong dream was to find this great ship. lifelong dream.

And during the past 13 years, 13 years, the quest for her has dominated my life. Robert Ballard lived his life on the balls of his feet for 13 years, pressing for the discovery of that ship. That's the Apostle Paul's point in verse 14. I press on. The pro the the the plan is a progressive one.

The past will leave me and it must be left aside. It will depress me or it will overinflate me. I need to leave the past where it is. It'll speak for itself in my life. And the future I need to reach for it because it holds out hope.

How much time do you spend even thinking about the future? My friend, every year is a perfect occasion to make plans for the next year. If you make no plans, you will be as you were last year or worse. What objectives have you set? What goals have you arranged?

What thoughts have you put together to give you hope in this next period of time? All that brings me to the word attitude. You knew I' I'd deal with that one if nothing else. Now, the apostle in verse 14 says, "I I press on toward the goal." JB Phillips paraphrases it.

I go straight for the goal. Let us therefore, verse 15, as many as are perfect have this attitude. And if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you. Number four, the secret is a determined attitude. Maintain it. The secret is a determined attitude.

Maintain it. You might have been thrown by his word perfect in verse 15. It sounds like double talk. He said earlier in verse 12 that he has not become perfect. And now in verse 15, he says as many as are perfect. I think that's best described in the words of another expositor.

Let me read them. I am complete in the sense that I have g grown as far as I can at the present and I am ready for the next lesson. This use of the word perfect has in mind maturing. Reaching the goal of maturity and I am in that process.

As many of us as have reached the level that uh that is the level of our growth and we are ready to learn the the next lesson. Let me mention attitude. The secret is a determined attitude. Throwing yourself into life full sail full boore holding nothing back. That's the thought.

And uh by the way, he's rather gracious, isn't he? He says, "If anyone has a different attitude, God will reveal that to him." He lets other people be. He doesn't demand of you the same drive he has in himself. He simply holds it out as a model to follow.

I want you to hold your place here. Let me show you a thought out of James chapter 1. Go over toward the end of the of the New Testament if you're not familiar with your Bible. And uh just before those ending letters of Peter and and John, you'll find the book of James.

And I have in mind verses 2, three, and four of u of this first chapter. Wonderful words. And especially for you who like life easier rather than harder harder. And that's all of us. And you who find trials irritating rather than encouraging. And that's also all of us.

James 1:2, "Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials." Knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. Now watch. Let endurance have its there's our word again, completing effect. Let endurance run its course. Let endurance have its perfect result that you may become mature, complete, Christlike, lacking nothing.

How does that happen? When those tests, well, I think one of the paraphrases talks about when all kinds of trials uh crawl into your life, my brother, something like this, do not uh resist them as intruders, but welcome them as friends. Sounds crazy. You're not taught to do that in books on true greed and the art of selfishness and leadership secrets of Aillaa the Hun.

That won't that won't teach you how to learn through through UH DIFFICULTIES. YOU'LL FIGHT DIFFICULTIES. YOU'LL NEVER MENTION THEM. You'll live as though they don't happen. You'll press right on rather than embracing them, learning from them, accepting the fact that life is tough. And those with the determined attitude are the ones that make it.

I read years ago about an evangelist that owned two bird dogs. He was so proud of those little bird dog pups that he he sort of indulged them as he raised them in a large backyard. He noticed as they were growing up that one day a little old Henry bulldog kind of dug his way under the fence and and got into the backyard.

Well, those two bird dogs were on him like white on rice. I mean, they they were just teeth, hair, and eyes everywhere. And then little old bulldog skirted out under the fence and took off ying on his way down the alley. And the owner stood inside out looking out the kitchen window and he thought, "That's great.

Those are my dogs." Next morning, that little bulldog came back and he dug back under the fence and and boy, they went after him again. Not quite as assertively as before. and he was growling, biting and fighting, but they whipped him and he, you know, he took off.

Well, this evangelist had to go on a trip for two weeks. And so while he was gone, he decided to ask his wife how the bird dogs were doing. And he called her in a week or two and a week or so, and she said, "Honey, the funniest things happened.

That bulldog has come back every day." And you know, just lately, he beat the stuffing out of both of our bird dogs. And now when he comes, they whine and run under the house and they look at him with their ears back. And she said, "That little old bulldog just struts around that backyard like like he owns he owns the place."

That is a determined attitude. You come back at it and you come back at it and you come back at it and it's remarkable how God honors that kind of life. I press on in season, out of season, when it feels good, when I don't feel good. I am determined to see it through.

I love the sign that appeared on the boundary of a South Carolina town just on the city limits. It said, "They tell us a recession is coming. We have decided not to cooperate." [laughter] I think some of you read the news and then decide to cooperate with the news.

And in that sense, you live a defeated life. You watch the news at the end of the day, and it is never designed to make you feel great. Have you noticed when you get through watching it, YOU NEVER GO, MAN, I'M READY TO FACE THE DAY TOMORROW. THAT IS TERRIFIC.

THANKS, DAN. RATHER, YOU REALLY MAKE ME FEEL GOOD. GOOD NIGHT, DAN. You don't do that. You go click. Oh my gosh. How are we going to make it through bed? And the next morning, oh no, it's going to be as bad as Dan said it was going to be last night.

It's as bad as I thought. It's worse than I thought. Let's watch him tonight so we'll see how we can do it again. Give me a break. Does that sound like what verse 15 of chapter 3 in Philippians is all about? [snorts] Have this attitude pressing on. There's one more.

We're in this thing together, folks. Verse 16. And I'm glad he says, "Let us" in these last two verses. Let us have the attitude and let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained. Number five, the need is keeping a high standard together. Lock arms with your brothers and sisters in the family.

Lock arms with your fellow Christians. Lock arms with those who are listening to and directing their lives by the truth. The need is keeping a high standard together. It's a mutual effort. Listen to two verses. Galatians 5 uh 6:9. Let us not lose heart in doing good for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary.

Isn't that great hope? Here's another one you won't hear on the evening news. 1 Corinthians 15:58. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. For as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Don't grow weary and welloing.

Your labor is not in vain in the Lord. You can face it. Most of the Christian life is not big-time tingles. It is not cheers and applause from the crowd. It is not fun and games. It is not relaxed, easy living, good life. It is gutted out, hang tough, trusting God to use your life in spite of the times in which you live.

And he will. I notice there were some biblical stories that I don't have time to review for you here, but just the names will remind you of them. Stories of men and women who lost their way, as well as those who stayed on course. I think of Lot who had so much going for him but he lost sight of the goal.

I think of Samson who judged Israel 20 years and fell into the arms of a harlot. Finished so poorly. I think of Saul the king head and shoulders above all the other people physically and and and perhaps even spiritually. a man of humility and grace who became a bitter man because of an enemy mindset he had toward David and he and he finally died a terrible suicide.

I I think of Ananas and Safh. What a terrible story. First of all, how'd you like to be married to a woman named Safh? But Ananas and Safh is uh a terri they are examples of of a couple who who tried to fake out the Christian community and God didn't let him get away with it.

And then there are other names like Joseph who wouldn't shrink under the the cloud of bitterness against his brothers who had done him wrong for so many for all those years he'd suffered. Joseph. I think of of Daniel who endured the the the treatment of of several ugly and thoughtless kings.

I think of John Mark who who did fail but he returned and became effective in Paul's ministry. I I I I think of Moses. I think of Rahab. These people finished well. Is that your plan? Well, u let me see if I can give it to you in a simple statement.

Okay, let me give you a little workable statement. Progress is maintained by here we go. Forgetting yesterday and focusing on tomorrow. Progress is maintained by forgetting yesterday and focusing on tomorrow while we keep the right attitude and remember we're in it together. Forgetting yesterday and focusing on tomorrow while we keep the right attitude and remembering we are in it together.

I'm encouraged to know that you're on a team with me and I'm on a team with you and and you don't have to be a star and I don't have to be a star. We can stub our toes and fail and and because we're locked arms, we're going to pull each other through this thing.

You and I are are pulling together. We're not against each other. That brings me great encouragement. Uh, I remember as a little boy in a little Baptist church that we attended for several years growing up in South Texas town of Elcampo. I remember lying on a on the pew board stiff uh listening to sermon after sermon.

But I I remember a gospel song that we used to sing that was just terrific. You we don't sing it anymore now, but uh we did then. And it says this, "I'm pressing on the upward way. New heights I'm gaining every day, still praying as I onwardbound. Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.

Lord, lift me up. Let me stand by faith on heaven's table land, a higher plane than I have found. Lord, plant my feet on higher ground." And I realized when I finished this this uh message that that song is based on Paul's words, pressing on. Lord, I'm pressing on the upward way.

And I'm in a process. I'm learning something every day. Praying as I onwardbound plant my feet on higher ground. Oh, what a way to live. [clears throat] Let's bow together, please. I don't know the details of your circumstances, and it's probably best that I don't so that you won't have any feeling that I've been talking just to you or that I plan this message with you in mind.

You may be surprised to know you're you're living near and spending your life around others who are in a very same sort of situation. Don't know your way through. Can't figure out why it's happening to you. Can't see good in it. For sure it doesn't make logical sense.

Have you thought maybe it's been designed to crush you? Not not in a sadistic way, not to just watch you squirm. God isn't unfair, but to bring you to your knees, to remind you that you're not all that all fire important to the whole world, to humble you.

Remember the words of Deuteronomy where Moses reminds the people of those 40 years in the wilderness they went through, to humble them, to prove them, and to show them what was in their heart. whether they would keep his word or not. Maybe you'd love to have somebody to to talk to about it.

Maybe you realize you desperate need for a savior. The first time you've been humble enough to admit you can't make it on your own. That this kind of tough-minded determination is is beyond you. I want to point you to Jesus Christ today. It's the cross that lifts up our head.

It's the cross that shows us the way. There's a prayer room that's clearly marked here on one of the doors at the front wall of our of our building in the worship center. If you need to talk to someone there, that's the place to do it. Thank you, Father, for the remarkable, inspiring message from this grand man who shook the world.

A life filled with your spirit, not perfect by his own admission, but what a model of determination and strength amidst hardship. Lord, uh, get us beyond the quick and easy mentality that life's sort of fun and games that it's sort of a easy come, easy go, and you sort of get breaks and you and you become great in sort of a three-step process.

Remind us, Lord, that uh greatness begins with a with a humble heart, with a love for integrity and justice, and with a walk in Christ that is consistent and authentic. I pray especially for those who need to make that decision today. and you give them the strength to to do it and give us all the power from your spirit to hang tough regardless.

We're pressing on the upward way, Lord, and by your by your grace, we're we're gaining new heights. Thank you in Jesus name. Amen. The preceding message, ((music playing)) Hanging Tough Together and Loving It, was copyrighted in 1991, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2008 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc., all rights are reserved worldwide.

In the preceding message, Charles R. Swindoll, ((music playing)) Inc. is grateful to Cook Communications Ministries for permission to quote from the book The Apostle, copyrighted in 1972 by John Pollock.