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Sunday, June 28, 2020

\\u201cGreatly\\xa0have they\\xa0afflicted me\\xa0from my youth\\u201d\\u2014 let Israel now say\\u2014 \\xa0\\u201cGreatly have\\xa0they\\xa0afflicted me\\xa0from my youth, yet they have not prevailed against me.\\xa0The plowers plowed\\xa0upon my back; they made long their furrows.\\u201d\\xa0The\\xa0LORD\\xa0is righteous; he has cut\\xa0the cords of the wicked.\\xa0May all who hate Zion be\\xa0put to shame and turned backward!\\xa0Let them be like\\xa0the grass on the housetops, which\\xa0withers before it grows up, with which\\xa0the reaper does not fill his hand nor the binder of sheaves his arms, nor do those who pass\\xa0by say, \\u201cThe blessing of the\\xa0LORD\\xa0be upon you! We\\xa0bless you in the name of the\\xa0LORD!\\u201d
Psalm\\xa0129:1-8 (ESV)

\\u201cFor perseverance is not resignation, putting up with things the way they are, staying in the\\xa0same old rut year after year, or being a doormat for people to wipe their feet on. Endurance\\xa0is not a desperate hanging on, but a traveling from strength to strength.\\u201d
\\u2013 Eugene Peterson

Do you see what this means\\u2014all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans\\xa0cheering us on? It means we\\u2019d better get on with it. Strip down, start running\\u2014and never\\xa0quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and\\xa0finished this race we\\u2019re in. Study how he did it.\\xa0Because he never lost sight of where he was headed\\u2014that exhilarating finish in and with\\xa0God\\u2014he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now\\xa0he\\u2019s\\xa0there, in the place of honor, right alongside God.\\xa0When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that\\xa0long litany of hostility he plowed through.\\xa0That\\xa0will shoot adrenaline into your souls!
Hebrews 12:1-3 (MSG)