#DON T EVER GIVE UP FULL#

It’s a wonderful thing to be young and full of energy. You think you will live forever even if you know you won’t. When you are 18 and just graduating from high school, you feel like your whole life is stretched out before you. His meaning is lost on the young because by and large they don’t feel like they are wasting away. When Paul says that outwardly we are wasting away, all but the young understand what he means. “Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day” ( v. We Experience Life in the Midst of Death. Here are three reasons why we never give up. ” In this passage Paul reveals the secret of Christian endurance. Or as the NLT puts it, “That is why we never give up.” That is the great cry. “Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart” (v. “Let us not lose heart.” That’s almost exactly what Paul says twice in 2 Corinthians 4. No matter how hard that would be, let us not lose heart, but be strengthened instead. I love you, and I will be with you in experiencing this spiritual revival and growth. This is what pleases God and this is what we need! I believe from this time on, more and more brothers and sisters will change from empty talking of faith to bending our knees to pray. I believe this persecution was from God, it was a start for new spiritual revival, because this persecution will take our faith from our head to our heart, from our lips to our knees. When Peter wrote to his congregation a few days ago, he put the matter this way: All of us struggle with the difference between “head knowledge” and “heart knowledge.” You never know what you truly believe until the crisis comes. “Now we know what Immanuel really means for God has been with us.”Īs I thought about it later, it occurred to me that this sort of insight comes only through times of trouble. He summarized the last week in one powerful sentence. Now we will experience God in a new way.” “We have a good knowledge of the Bible, but now we will have that faith in our hearts. He told me that in his church there are many young people with college degrees and others with advanced degrees. But he also said, “My God is much bigger now.” And he wants that for the whole church. Peter seemed relaxed when I talked with him. They cannot shut down the church because it belongs to God.” “The government thinks if they close down our meeting place, they have shut down the church. They will have to find a new place to meet.

He sees God’s hand in all that has happened.

#DON T EVER GIVE UP TRIAL#

He said he knows this trial has been sent by God to make the church stronger. They will only listen to me as their pastor.” When the police led him out, the people stood and clapped and cheered for Pastor Peter and gave great glory to God.Īfter two hours of interrogation, Peter was allowed to go home. The police said they would disperse the people but Peter said, “They will not listen to you.

Peter answered them in front of the congregation that the church would not disperse. As he was preparing to preach, police burst into the worship service, demanded that he stop preaching and ordered the people to disperse.

Then last Sunday they came again and actually interrupted the service. A little over a week ago the police came three times to try and shut down his church. Peter leads a house church and for the last several years has been our “Keep Believing” man in China. That’s what my friend Pastor Peter told me when we talked a few days ago. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day” (2 Corinthians 4:16).

Don t ever give up