Trials, testing, persecution, temptation and end times.

Hey everyone its Nick, I would like to talk about, persecution, trials and tribulations. Basically we got to go through many tribulations to enter the kingdom of heaven, if your facing tribulations right now, which I’m pretty sure you all are I want to say to you remember the hope it’s in Jesus Christ, for he who overcomes will inherit all this, and will inherit the kingdom of heaven. We got a journey to the kingdom of heaven we could go into their tomorrow or the next day or in 20 years from now. I don’t know, but all I know is that in between now and when we enter the kingdom of heaven we go to go through much trials and much testing, it’s one of the things we got to grow in is perseverance, we go to persevere to enter the kingdom of heaven.

Things will get hard for everyone that are true followers of Jesus. But that’s when perseverance is needed, many times  Paul went through very hard times it says in 2 Corinthians 6:3-10 3 We give no offense in anything, that our ministry may not be blamed. 4 But in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God: in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses, 5 in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in fasting’s; 6 by purity, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love, 7 by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, 8 by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; 9 as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and yet not killed; 10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things. You see Paul here, he went through many things to enter the kingdom of heaven, he prisoned, he went to prison, him and Barnabas went into prison, the Romans flogged him because of his preaching, he was boldly proclaiming the word of God, and because of that as a result he got thrown into prison, after being beaten and tortured and he was chained up and you know what he did? do you think he sat there and sulked and go poor me poor me, no he did not instead him and Barnabas were singing songs of hymns and they were praising the Lord, while they were in much pain, they were also praying.

We must be of good cheer when it comes to persecution, it says in James 1:2 count it all joy my brothers when you meet trails of various kinds. We must have joy through these trials, we must be like Paul and Barnabas whenever we go through hard times, the worst thing to do is sit there and go poor me poor me, do not do that my friends, but I say to you get on your feet and persevere through what is going on, pray to the Lord, prayer through persecution is very important. You need to stop having your lip down basically, you need to stand up and be a man and you need to pray to the Lord and just face what you are going through because there will be more and more coming, I’ve had many times in my walk with Jesus Christ where I’ve got down, and I tell you the worst thing is to sit down and cry about it and sulk and not do anything about it, it’s the worst thing, it makes things a whole lot worse.

But I want to say to you count it Joy what your facing, be at peace of what your facing and persevere, remember the Lord Jesus Christ is with you and he will never give you anything that you cannot handle. We will have to face many tribulations to enter the kingdom of heaven whether it will be persecution, be torture, death anything like that, we must be ready but the Lord will never give us something we cannot handle. And I want to say to those who are facing temptation right now of many kinds whether it would be sexual immoral, whether it be drinking, smoking or anything like that you need to submit to God, you need to commit to him in prayer so that you will not fall into temptation and you need to resist the devil and he will flee, and again I will say again, don’t sit down and feel sorry for yourself, it’s the worst thing to do but get on your feet and pray and persevere of what you’re going through. Do you think Paul; do you think Barnabas, had a bit of a winged when they went through these hard times? They persevered and we must do likewise.

When Jesus Christ, he went up upon the cross did you see him complaining about the whips and the all the torture he was taking? He did that for us, we should be gladly facing persecution and trials for Jesus Christ, for he went up upon that cross and he took the worst death for us he went through much tribulation for us, we will never know what it felt like for Jesus Christ, and you know he did it out of love for us, and you know we can just do that back for him, if somebody’s there that comes up to us and says do you believe in Jesus Christ, you should gladly be saying yes, if they flog you count it as joy, if they call you names be blessed, for the Lord is with you. They cannot harm you, do not be afraid of those who can harm the flesh, but be afraid of the one that after you have died can send you to hell or heaven, which is God.

So my friends what are you going to do? Are you going to get on your feet? Are you going to persevere and finish the race? Or are you going to be disqualified and miss the kingdom of heaven? And miss the rapture and enter the kingdom of hell forever? I want to say to you my friends persevere, it’s very important to persevere, if you don't persevere you will fall away, it says in Mark 4:17 as he talking about the seeds, and they have no root in themselves but endure for a while, then when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word immediacy they fall away, you see how it says here they have no root, basically we got to establish a root in Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ is our foundation and as I’ve been finding lately our foundation which is the root our strength, is basically love, it’s basically hope, its faith, our relationship with God and all other things we must be strong in all these things, we must not be following sin, we must be strong in these things. So basically I want to say to you that nothing can separate us from the Love of Christ, because it says in Romans 8:35 who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? You know what we choose to separate us from God is what separates us from God, if we choose nothing to separate us from God, then nothing will separate us from God, for Paul writes about it and he says I am convinced, nothing can separate me from God, nor height nor depth, nor width and basically it goes on and on, and it goes no angels or demons or anything can separate me from the Love of God, you see how close Paul was with God. We need to be close to God if we are going to persevere, we can’t persevere in your own strength, if were strong in Jesus Christ were going to be able to persevere of what’s coming, but you need to get your foundation correct, you need to have roots, without your roots as it says here you will fall away. So establish your roots and one good way to establish your roots is develop a relationship with Jesus Christ and how you do that is through prayer.

So pray, seek him and you will find, ask about everything, have that best friend relationship with him and he will just become that reality in your life that you cannot deny him, for anything you cannot deny him, you need to be strong in the lord Jesus Christ if you want to enter the kingdom of heaven. Were all at different levels and remember the Lord will not give us anything we cannot handle. So I want to encourage you to persevere on. If you feel like everything is coming against you, if you fell like nothing is working and there’s no hope at all, but I tell you there is one hope that Jesus Christ, for he loves you and he wants you to persevere to enter his kingdom, remember be at peace during persecution, be joyful, stay with God's spirit and you will live, you will persevere you will enter the kingdom of heaven, see these things I have spoken unto you that in me you may have peace, in the world you have tribulation but be of good cheer  I have overcome the world, that’s what Jesus Christ said in John 16:33. He says that I have overcome the world, it says be of good cheer, Jesus overcome and he’s also given us the power to overcome, when we accepted Jesus Christ, we accepted his spirit inside of us and his spirit is the spirit of perseverance, of love, peace and joy. He did not give us a bad spirit; he gave us the Holy Spirit. The one that overcome the world is in us, so if we remain in Jesus Christ we too will overcome the world, for we overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony. You know our words are very strong, when we’re facing trials of all kinds, and were trying to overcome them, the best thing to do is speak, is to tell the temptation to go away in the name of Jesus, to remember your hope as well.

For the word of our testimony is very powerful, you know it says in scripture that there will be persecution coming up, there will be all these things, were in the middle of it right now, but as I say it again you need to persevere, remember to he who overcomes shall inherit all this, if you can persevere and overcome you shall inherit the kingdom of heaven, and there’s many great promises if you read through Revelation 3, there’s many great promises there. and I would like you to read through it all, it’s a great blessing to know what you’re going to have when you enter the kingdom of heaven if you overcome and do God's will, but I want you to have peace about these end times that I'm speaking about, yes I have spoken about people getting persecuted and imprisoned and going to death for their faith, there is many happening right now, but I want you to have peace about it and I want to impart peace to all those who fear it, In the name of Jesus Christ, I impart peace to all those who are fearing the end times and are having trouble accepting the end times, and I just pray that you comfort their souls, In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Do not focus on the end times either, I used to be an end time seeker, I used to try and find, who the antichrist was, I used to try and find out all these kind of things, like when the rapture is pre, mid, post. But I tell you the truth my friends it’s not worth looking up unless the Lord leads you, it will cause unnecessary stress in your life, and unnecessary fear that should not be on your life, but I tell you focus on what the Lord's got for you right now, because if you focus of the future you will miss what's happening now and you will fall away. So submit to God, submit to him, and the devil will flee, you will persevere if you are in Jesus Christ, establish your roots, get that foundation correct, pray like you have never prayed before, and just lift your head up and go I’m going to persevere through the Lord Jesus Christ, he suffered for me, I would gladly, I would joyfully suffer for him that’s the kind of attitude that we should have during these testing and trials, but the devil puts many words in our heads, he tries to put us down, he tries to cause stress, he tries to cause confusion, but reject all that, submit to God and pray to him and you will persevere, God bless you my friends.