Keep Swinging!
Joe Louis and Billy Conn fight Joe kept swinging winning in the 13th round
Key components of spiritual growth; Fear of God, Kingdom of God, and the Power of God
Jesus’ teaching seems not about power pray not to give up, hidden power of the weak
2 Cor 13:4-5 For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God’s power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God’s power we will live with him in our dealing with you. Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves.
How do we test ourselves for faith? Jesus tells a story, and asks if will he find faith?
Describes judge all power no fear; widow powerless, who do you identify with?
Judge gives widow justice; if we stop here we miss the punch line
Luke 18:5 …so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!
Many say wear me out, but the word means beat black and blue; a metaphor for boxer
Must have brought laughter, then somberness, realizing what he said, listening to judge
The poor and powerless have become the rich and powerful; how, Take the test!
Keep Swinging!
When you fail, sin, hurt, bleed, and keep swinging; that is the faith test!
Keep swinging even when it seems pointless!
The widow was turned away by the judge, again and again, but she kept swinging, believing
What do you think it took for her to get herself up as the rejections grew stronger?
God doesn’t want me to have it, not good enough, promise not for me after all
God loves you more than this judge feared this woman, pray and believe
Gal 6:9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Notice it is not if we keep failing, but when we do good and nothing happens
The enemy’s job is to convince you that you are swinging for nothing, faith test
Keep swinging for the sake of others!
If the enemy can’t stop you from swinging for you, he will get you stopped for others, people aren’t pointless
He works hard to isolate us so we stop swinging for others
Hebrews 10:24-25 Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together…
Meeting together was never just about us but about those who need you here
WWII bombers fly in combat box, fighter escorts moved head for air supremacy
That is what it means to swing and hit the enemy someone else
2 Cor 4:1 since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.
That is what Jesus did on the cross; he died in weakness, raised in power, swinging
That is why we can keep punching; Jesus has already won, and his power in us
Romans 5:6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.