Last Week… The question was asked: what or who are you living for? Our focus is to live for eternity, for Jesus Doing so is no easy task, it requires doing hard things.

Jesus did Hard Things Jesus stepped out of eternity… Took the form of created man. Phil. 2:7 Lived with temptations. Matt. 4:1; Heb. 4:15 Died for people who hated him. Lk. 23:33ff

“and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.” 1 Peter 2:24

Theodore Roosevelt “The Strenuous Life” (1900) I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of effort, of labor and strife; to preach that the highest form of success which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the splendid ultimate triumph.

Our Need to do Hard Things It starts with seemingly insignificant (“little”) things. Lk. 16:10 Bible readings. Col. 3:16 Memorization of Bible texts. Psa. 19:7-10 Habitual prayers. 1 Thess. 5:17 Daily life: chores; other responsibilities.

Our Need to do Hard Things With “little things” girding our loins: We can preach the gospel. Matt. 28:19ff We can properly handle the truth. 2 Tim. 2:15 Fight the good fight of faith. 1 Tim. 6:12 Establish and maintain peace. Eph. 4:1-3

Practical Considerations Get out of your comfort zone. 2 Tim. 1:7 Go beyond what is expected. Col. 3:22-24 Think large & Collaborate. Ecc. 4:9-12 Tackle long term projects. cp. Acts 15:36 * From the book: Do Hard Things (from Part 2 of the book: 5 Kinds of hard, pages 61ff)

Conclusion It must have been hard for God to send His Only begotten Son to die for us. Will we do the hard things now that we have died to sin and have been raised to walk in newness of light? Rom. 6:4