Winners never quit, quitters never win. That was a big sign on a billboard we had at our 6th Salafiqah Infantry Base. Winners never quit, quitters never win. You might see I've got that slogan on a stone on our boardroom table in front of us on the bookshelf. And we read in the Scriptures 1 Corinthians 15 verse 58, Now there's a great poem called Don't Quit. I've unfortunately got it in such small scripts, I've actually got to use glasses for this. When things go wrong, as they sometimes will, when the road you're trudging seems all uphill, when funds are low and debts are high, and you want to smile, but you have to sigh, when care is pressing you down a bit, rest if you must, but don't you quit. Life is queer with its twists and turns, as every one of us sometimes learns, and many a failure turns about when he might have won if he'd stuck it out. Don't give up, though the pace seems slow. You may succeed with another blow. Often the goal is nearer than it seems to a faint and faltering man. Often the struggler has given up when he might have captured the victor's cup. And he learned too late when the night slipped down how close he was to the golden crown. Success is failure turned inside out, the silver tint of the clouds of doubt. And you can never tell how close you are. It may be near when it seems so far. So stick to the fight when your heart is tit. It's when things seem worse that you must not quit. We are called to persevere, never to give up, never, never, never, never give up. As Christians, we call to be long-distance mountain marathon runners, not just short-distance sprinters. Sometimes we're good at a short-distance sprint, but this isn't a 100-meter dash. This is a lifelong mountain marathon. In fact, it's more like a mountain marathon relay race because we've got to continually pass on the torch, the baton, to the next generation. And just as athletes need to build up their muscles and their aerobic fitness to develop the strength and the stamina, to endure. We need to stretch our faith. We need to stretch our muscles and our, stretch our muscles, stretch our minds. And the mind is like a muscle. It can be stretched. I remember as a new Christian having great trouble memorizing one scripture verse. And then as time goes on, you can do so much more. But it takes perseverance. And again, at first, you can't run around the block without collapsing and throwing up. And then next thing, they get you running on 8.4 kilometer runs and things like this. Well, I mean, that just takes perseverance. building up our stamina, we need to stretch our minds, we need to stretch our muscles, we need to escape from our comfort zones, we need to keep on keeping on, fighting the good fight of faith. Philippians 2 verse 16 declares, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain. What does an athlete need? I've got a few athletes in my family, so I know it requires training, discipline, motivation, focus, persistence, and perseverance. Athletes need stamina. They need to build up their oxygen levels so that they can run and not grow weary, that they can walk and not faint. This requires discipline and diligence, keeping on when you want to stop. This requires stretches and stair training, repetitions, sprints, push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, perseverance. I remember one of the things that my wife liked to get the children doing is running up and down the stairs at Rhodes Memorial. First get them to run up to Rhodes Memorial, then up and down those stairs. 49 stairs, and some of them are quite steep. And it's a great exercise, but it takes a while to build yourself up to that. And of course, running up and down the mountain takes a lot of perseverance. So we read in... 1 Corinthians 9 verse 24, Do not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize. Run in such a way that you may obtain the prize. Everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown. but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus, not with uncertainty. Thus I fight, not as one who punches the air, but I discipline my body. I bring it into subjection, lest when I preach to others, I myself may become disqualified. You've got to play according to the rules. Sports is important to teach us teamwork, discipline, focus, how to be gracious winners, how to be gracious losers, but there are rules. And if you don't adhere to those rules, you can get disqualified, and we must never be disqualified in the great race of faith. Successful sportsmen focus on measurable goals. You can't get to the top of Table Mountain in one jump. It takes thousands of steps. In fact, I think my son was one of these watchers that measures how many steps you take. He said it took 32,000 steps on one of our Great Commission course hikes up Table Mountain. And that's the point. That's a model of our discipline. There are thousands of steps. And so you've got to just aim at a measurable goal. The first goal is make the team. Then score the goal, win the match, achieve the grade, accomplish the standards in history. There's medals and trophies to be won on the way to help inspire us to take the next step. There's titles to be awarded. Athletes need to first make the local team. And then if they're good enough, they can make the regionals, the provincials, the nationals, and finally, worlds. And for some, this means even ultimately they'll get to the Olympics or the Commonwealth Games or something like that. But this takes time, energy, dedication, years of self-sacrifice before anyone can actually reach any of these particular goals. And to reach a world-class level to compete in any international tournament, it takes a lot of discipline. And I've seen it because my daughter, Daniela, wanted to achieve in ice skating. And that required five in the morning racing through to Grand Theft, where they've got the only decent Olympic-sized ice skating rink in South Africa. And they were always only getting the early hours in the morning. So because we've only got one ice rink, it meant normally five in the morning. The people in Finland, who win just about everything, they've got about 100,000 lakes that they can ice skate on in the winter, and they've got hordes of others in the summer, ice skating rinks. And Daniela said she got very used to the Finnish national anthem. They could sometimes win first, second, and third in synchronized ice skating, because they're just so good. South Africa had no chance of winning against Finland, or Canada for that matter. or Norway. In fact, the main goal of the South African ice skating team was to beat Australia or Brazil or Mexico. because they were the people sort of on our level of ice skating. And so, did you win? They'd be asked and came back, we beat Mexico or we beat Australia or Brazil. That's about the best you could hope for. Because I mean, ice skaters over in Finland, they ice skate all the time. They're not just ice skating for a couple of hours, one morning a week in Cape Town like what we have. So it takes a huge amount of attempt to get your national colors. And Christopher got his karate, and that took huge amounts of training, and years and years, and then his mother's kidney transplant, that he could make international competitions like in America and Switzerland and in Germany, and he brought back a silver and a gold medal. A silver and a bronze medal, I should say. Kelvin did well in hockey and fencing. Fencing, he won nationals, won gold. And that's pretty good. In water polo, he got fairly far, provincial at least. And then he even got national colors to represent how they've got high athlete in Egypt, which included running on the sands of Egypt and then swimming in the Red Sea. Now, each of those were not easily achieved. Perseverance. You don't get to compete on a national or international level without a lot of discipline. There's a huge amount of competition, too. Now, in the army, we were continually reminded, winners never quit, quitters never win. Strive for victory, never give in. Don't make excuses, make a plan, in Borgmarkenplan. So the army disciplined us, and it forced us to do without. to endure hardship, to persevere in spite of any obstacles. In fact, the whole point of an obstacle course is not to slow you down, to stop you. It's to teach you obstacles are only there to be overcome. And Of course, discouragement you've got to overcome. Even when you're deprived of sleep, deprived of food, when you push the limit, even pouring rain, even freezing cold, you never give up. You never make an excuse. Selection Army and Selection Sports Teams is aiming at weeding out those who are too weak, whether physically too weak or emotionally too weak, or in some cases mentally too weak. And I know somebody who went through reconnaissance commander selection four times, and sometimes he gave up just before the end, or on the last day. Absolutely incredible. You can go so far and then you give up. It's like imagining a person who's swimming across the English Channel, and then a mile from France decides to swim back. It's too far. And now you've got to swim back. Now, how does that make sense? Just, you know, a bit further and you could have achieved it. There's people who've given up on the way to Robben Island, swimming across, they've done most of it. And then they give up and they ask to be taken on board the ships that are watching and keeping them safe from the sharks and so on. So often you get people, you just think how far you've gone. It takes more effort to go back. Just a little bit more and you can push forward to the victory. And in the army, they sometimes would deliberately discourage us and try to tempt a candidate to give up. Why would they do this? We would be hiking. We had compass and map readings. And then you get to a point, and there's this corporal. He's got a briefly set out. He's got a cooler box full of cool drinks and ice. And there's ice there. Do you want a steak? Do you want a drink? All you've got to do is hand in your number and give up. So, I mean, it's like they're just tempting you, but they don't want you to give up. They're just trying to solidify your strength to resist the temptation. I'll get this later. I'm going to finish the hike first. And so, so often you can imagine you're on this narrow path and the devil's got some temptations on the way. You can get all this, just give up. And they've got the temptations, and when you can smell the meat, you can hear the ice clinking, guys will be there swilling their drinks around with ice blocks in it, and you're in the felt, you're pouring with sweat, you're absolutely thirsty, you're exhausted, and it's so tempting. But you've got to say, no. Now I'm going to carry on. And so the scripture tells us, you therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. So why do so many people give up? People give up on so many levels, whether you're thinking about sports, whether you think about missions, whether you're talking about discipleship. People give up through lack of discipline, through neglect of training. It's too cold. It's too warm in bed. I don't want to get up this morning. I'm not going to train today. And I'm not going to get up in time for devotions. I'm going to sleep in later. So failure to heed counsel, failure to heed instructions from the coach, Many times when our children were young, they'd come home sometimes in tears. The coach was shouting at me. I'd say, but the coach is your friend. No, the coach hates me. No, the coach wants you to succeed. The coach wouldn't be getting up early in the morning to help train you if they didn't want you to succeed. When a coach criticizes you, it's constructive criticism. Constructive criticism comes from people who committed to you who want you to succeed. Destructive criticism comes from enemies who want you to fail. So, somebody is shouting from the sidelines, you're a moron. You're a failure. You'll never succeed. Well, you don't need to listen to that. That's from an enemy who wants you to fail. But your coach says, you can do better and push through on this and that. The coach is wanting you to succeed. That's constructive criticism. Your parent, your teacher, your coach is always constructive criticism. So I could encourage my children, without even knowing the specifics, that they should take whatever the coach or the teacher said seriously, because they are wanting you to succeed. And the advice they're giving or the criticism they're giving is only for your good, because they want you to win. And that's what we need. We need to be willing to listen to the constructive criticism of people on our side. We mustn't listen to the discouragement of our enemies, of course. And so why do so many give up? Because comfort weakens us. Self-indulgence erodes us. And hardship, though, strengthens us. Those who are easily distracted, those who are double-minded, those who are half-hearted will fail. There's so many quitters, losers, excuse-makers, and failures. They're too tired or they're too weak. How many times do I hear that in the army? Yes, you can. And we're talking about sit-ups with rocks or things like this. It seems bizarre, the amount of things you'd have to do. Running with concrete blocks, for goodness sakes. Or pushing up a concrete block, not just a stone or a medicine ball. And running with sandbags. The other day, I was trying to pick up a 25 kg sack of meal from the shop. And I said, you know, we used to run with sandbags. Why am I struggling to pick this? You know, just 25 kgs, that's nothing. And it's a bit frustrating when your body's not behaving like it is, but we were we were able to run with sandbags. I mean, what the army did for our generation was super good. Well, it's a bit frustrating when your body doesn't keep up with what you're meant to do later. But the scripture continually tells us, I press towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus, Philippians 3.14. The wimps, the wits, the weeds, the spineless yellow-bellied jellyfish, the cowards and the compromisers will fail. They will give up. Maybe they could have persevered, but they don't have the discipline to push through. They'd rather stay in bed longer. They'd rather give up. They'd rather stay out of the rain or whatever it is. Webster's Dictionary defines endurance as continuance, lasting, a bearing or suffering, a continuing under pain or distress, without sinking or yielding to the pressure. That's endurance. We need to endure. To endure, in Webster's Dictionary, says to last, to continue, to remain, to abide, without breaking, to sustain. Again, when we started in the South African Infantry, we had something like 2,000 young men in our base in Grahamstown, 6th South African Infantry. And it didn't take long, we were down to 600. They whittled away 1,400, just being pulled off for this, not completing the 2.4 in time and not completing the 8.4 kilometer first space. you're running with drums and tires and logs and so on, and you've got to work together. If you thought teamwork wise, because you don't win by being the first to cross the line, you win by when all of your group cross the line. And that means helping the weaker and the slower. And that sometimes means we've got to help not just carry the backpack and the rifle of this chap who's struggling, but sometimes one would take an arm from the one side, the other would take an arm from the other side, and this chap's feet are off the ground and you're running because the team's got to cross the line as a unit, not in strips and drags and straggles. And also, how do you manage with big drums? We're talking about these massive fuel drums. and big tires and poles. Well, you carry poles, and then you put the drums slung between them using the ropes you've got. And you also put the tires over the poles, and then you take turns. Who's carrying the poles and running? Because otherwise, we can't do this as individuals. We can do this as a team. So they were teaching us teamwork. And you'd literally see groups running, individuals with a tire, individuals with a pole, individuals with a drum. But the ones who won were the ones who did it all together, we're going to carry these poles. And on the poles are going to be the tires. And we're talking about big tires, like tractor tires and things like that, and the drums. So teamwork can make all the difference. And helping one another, encouraging. And sometimes you've got a weak person that you've got to help. And it's that sort of thing. OK, this chap's sick, or whatever it is, and we make a plan. We help to carry those and carry one another's burdens. Webster's dictionary describes steadfast as fixed, firm, constant, resolute, not fickle, not wavering. Steadfastness in the dictionary is firmness of mind or purpose, fixedness in principle, constancy, resolution, as the steadfastness of faith. He adhered to his opinions with steadfastness, undeviated. That's what we need as Christians. Now, we had a big billboard stating, train hard, fight easy. Better to lose sweat in training than blood in battle. Although in our infantry unit, we had to lose blood in training as well as sweat. And our sergeant major once boasted, the South African army has lost more men in training than in combat. Now, I don't know if that was true, but that didn't seem very inspiring to me. But people died in training. Guys broke their necks. People fell. People died of pneumonia. And we wouldn't report sick when we were sick. It was just considered disgrace. I ended up in the second book a few times, but that's because I passed out. on parade or something else, but I'd never voluntarily walk to the clinic, check into the medical clinic. I would have to pass out while trying, and that was considered acceptable in the infantry. You could pass out while on a run or something, a fuss, but you don't report sick. Then you're, what do they call it, a dripper. which is named after Egyptians. That was an insult to the Second World War. South Korean infantry fought up in Egypt. And so my dad used to use the word gypo as a term of great derision. A gypo is someone who tries to get out of his duty, meaning acting like an Egyptian. It's a bit insulting to poor Egyptians, but still. That was the term. Then they formed the B-Bob squad, which is the life duties. They'd have to walk along while we're doing our training, going, B-Bob, B-Bob, meaning they're in the ambulance, so to speak. And some way or another, it was just such a disgrace to report sick that it endured to me in missions, too. Hospital Christian Fellowship, my first mission, they had the principle, you don't report sick until after you've got up, showered, had breakfast, joined devotions, then you can report sick. You didn't report sick before that. So, it's funny how, you know, you felt as sick as anything, I can't get out of bed, but after you showered and attended devotions, many times, now I can push through, I can do the work of the day. And so, again, it just taught us the fuss-baitness, which, when you're dealing with nurses, nurses can't get sick. And I suppose parents can't get sick either. So that's a good standard. Now, as Christians, we've been called to endure. Matthew 10.22, he who endures to the end will be saved. John 6.27, Jesus said, do not labor for the food which perishes, labor for the food which endures to everlasting life. 1 Peter 1.25, but the word of the Lord endures forever. God's word endures. Winners study the word of God. Winners submit to the word of God. And as Christians, we've been called to persevere in spite of sickness, in spite of disappointment, in spite of opposition, in spite of danger, in spite of difficulty, in spite of criticism. We must keep on keeping on persevering with all endurance and steadfastness. And then we read in the scripture that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro, carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men and the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. But speaking the truth in love, we may grow up into all things unto him who is the head, Christ, from whom the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies according to the effective working by which every part does its share. cause growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. That's a prayer in Ephesians chapter four. In the scripture, we read of failures that we should never forget. Failures who deserted the faith. These are some of the most disgraced names in the Bible. Esau, who sold his heritage for a mess of pottage. Judas, the apostle who became an apostate, the treasury became a traitor, who kissed the door to heaven and the next day ended up in hell. Demas who love the world, but we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul. Hebrews 10, 39. We read in Hebrews 6, and we desire that each one of you show the same diligence and the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. How often it is that I've seen so many people, more talented, more gifted, stronger and so on, give up. It's not talent, it's not intelligence. Many of those folks do give up. And then there's others who you would have written off and said, they have no chance, and they persevere. We've seen it at our camps and courses. I remember this one chap here is absolutely terrified of going through the tunnel underwater and an obstacle course. He wanted to opt out, but he persevered. And at the end, after everyone else, he went through it. And he later became the most positive person in the course. We've had sometimes people who were so weak, they struggled to run. I remember this one lady who was actually Bill Bathman's secretary in Phoenix, Arizona, the first day she was told to run around the common, she said, I've never run anywhere. And she just walked around the common. But by the end, of course, she's running around the common without stopping. She did the hike up Table Mountain, she said to me at one point, I've burned more calories than I'm worth. But she got to the top, and she got all the way across Table Mountain and back again. And later, she ended up going back to America and saying, you know, she's so fit now, she started doing runs and then did half marathons, in the end did marathons, ended up as a missionary to India, five children now. I mean, that's one of our exhibit A success stories. Well, Nick can give you his testimony about being asthmatic and not being able to run and then ending up doing Comrades and Two Oceans and so on. So, you know, it doesn't matter where you are. It's where you go. So it's how you start is not as important as how you finish. And the fact that you can't run to start with doesn't mean you can't complete marathons and Comrades later. And this is the principle. Those who've given up, but then there's those who've endured. James 5, 11. Indeed, we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord, that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. Job didn't just start well, he ended well. We have a great cloud of witnesses. We have examples of excellence in the scripture and in church history. They're overcomers who've persevered and pressed on to victory. Think of Noah. Abraham, Joseph, David, Daniel, Peter, Paul, Polycarp, Perpetuer, Martin Luther, William Carey, Robert Moffat, David Livingston, Mary Schleser, C.T. Studd, Richard Wilbrunt, James Kendi, many others, Erlo Stegen. Therefore, we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses. Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that's set before us. We must not be like that faithless generation who were condemned to wander in the wilderness. We must be like the Joshua generation who went in and possessed the land, conquering, overcoming in faith and obedience. Of the 12 spies that went out to scout the land, 10 came back with a bad report. It's a wonderful land, but the people there are giants. We are like grasshoppers in their sights. We cannot take the land. And God cursed that generation to die in the wilderness. But just Joshua and Caleb of those 12 scouts gave a good report. Yes, they're like giants in land, but we can beat them. And God rewarded them. They alone of that generation entered the promised land. And Caleb, in his late 80s, came up with, give me that mountain. I mean, a man who would not give up. We've got to be like the Joshua generation. They took the land and they could say along with the Apostle Paul, I've fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I've kept the faith. If you're not under authority, you have no authority. And we read in Acts 2, they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowshipping in the breaking of bread and in prayers. We need commitment, we need community, we need accountability in the fellowship that God's called us to. So we're told in Hebrews 13, 17, obey those who rule over you. Be submissive, for they watch over for your souls as those who must give an account to God. Let them do so with joy, not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you. We need to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, he has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12 verse 2. The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. Christ's last command must be our first concern. And so we need to love God with all of our hearts, soul, mind, and strength. We need to love our neighbors as ourself. We need to seek first God's kingdom and His righteousness, making disciples for all nations, and teaching obedience to all things the Lord has commanded. Christianity is not a short-distance sprint. It's a long-distance marathon, a mountain marathon, actually a mountain relay race. I praise God for the principles of discipleship and spiritual stamina, which I learned through my pastor, Reverend Doc Watson, who was the first chairman of the board of Frontline Fellowship for 16 years, mind you. And in missions, I received my mentorship under Francis Grimm of Hospital Christian Fellowship. He managed to plant Hospital Christian Fellowships in 100 countries of the world on a South African passport. That's pretty impressive. He taught a whole lot of things, like a missionary must be ready to preach, pray, or die at a moment's notice. And other great things, like if you're not being criticized, you're not doing your job. And Francis Grimm was a real live-by-faith person. He sent me out around the country to go to 600 Christian bookshops. We used to have 600 Christian bookshops in South Africa. Now I'm talking late 70s. He gave me five grand to start with, and the rest, hitchhike, you know, walk, whatever. And I hitchhiked around the country to some of the smallest little towns around the country, and by foot and by hitchhiking, managed to get to these different shops, distributing the catalogs and getting orders and so on for publishers. And that's a good experience, learning a whole lot of things, like how to live by faith. And in the South Ghanami, in missions, at theological college, through assignments, through exams, through practicals, in the fire brigade, through sleep deprivation, through parenthood. And if you think that any of these other things are challenging, parenthood really is very, very demanding. And the kiddies are not sick on their own. If they've got a toothache or something, you are not going to sleep. I mean, simple. And so parenthood is tough. Through mission leadership, and when there's no one to delegate to, when the buck stops with you, that puts a lot of burdens. But I've learned so much from the persecuted church in particular. When you think of people like Brother Nicolae Moldovano in Romania, great pianist, comets broke every bone in his hands. He relearned to play the piano with broken, fractured, mangled hands, where his joints aren't sticking out where they used to be. He had to relearn to play the piano. He produced thousands of hymns, hundreds of which he composed in sultry confinement. Now imagine, no musical instrument, no Bible, no books, no pen, no paper, but he He committed to his mind over 300 hymns, insulting confounds, which later he put down on paper when he came out of prison. Most of the churches in Romania are singing the hymns of Brother Moldavana. Nicola Moldavana endured. He persevered. At one point, he had this agreement with the communists. They would beat him every time he sang a hymn. So he said, OK, I'm going to compose the hymn, sing the hymn. They will beat me. They'll be happy. I will worship God, I'm happy," he said. This was the deal. And Richard Wilmbrand writes about Nikolai Moldovan as one of the saints that inspired him in prison. Imagine inspiring Richard Wilmbrand. But those are some of the people that I was introduced to by Bill Bathman, after whom this hall is named. We can endure far more than we think we can. We're told in Galatians 6 verse 9, let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. We can accomplish far more than we ever imagined. We need our minds and our muscles stretched. We need our faith to be strengthened. And the faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the Word of God. The more we read the Word of God, the more we get to know the God of the Word, and the more we can get the fire of the Holy Spirit in us. And that's how we learn to endure, from persevering in the Word. We need our understanding of Scripture to be deepened, and then our vision will be extended. Without a vision, a people perish. We need to look at the fields. We need to keep our eyes fixed on the Lord Jesus Christ, on whom our faith depends from beginning to end. That is why, in Great Commission courses, we emphasize physical endurance, mental focus, emotional intensity, along with academic assignments and practical challenges, along with spiritual energy. Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I will hear of your affairs that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel. Philippians 1.27. Wholehearted work done in difficult situations is what's required in Christian discipleship and missionary service. All too many people today are physically lazy, mentally lazy, spiritually lazy. We need to stretch our minds and our muscles. When I was converted, it was common to see people coming to church with their Bible. Now, it's rare to see people carrying their Bible to church. And it could be because many churches don't have Bibles in their pews. But then, the Bibles in their pews also disappeared in many megachurches. Now, the verse or something is up on the screen. And people tend to be lazy. They don't bring their Bibles. They don't open their Bibles. And in many cases, they don't read the Bibles on their own either. And so, we're getting into a lazy society. That's why physical education is good. Sometimes just getting people up and out and getting them to stretch and run around the common or whatever is a great beginning. We used to have it. There were times that we had camps where we didn't have PT. You know what would happen? People would miss their devotions, they'd sleep until they had to get up for breakfast, and then that was it. They wouldn't have time for devotions and so on. And the concentration of people who haven't done PT in a camp is shocking. So we learned after a few times that, no, you always have PT, always have PT. for a camp, of course. And I've seen it at how many different conferences you go to and the people getting up late and they almost miss breakfast, but not quite. They come in the latest they can, and they don't have time for devotions. And then they're often missing in the meetings as well. We need to get back to discipline. Laziness is a curse. And we read in Hebrews 12 verse 27, the things which cannot be shaken may remain. We've got to be sure that we are unshakable, untakable, undefeatable. We need to stretch our minds and stretch our muscles, then we can stretch our faith. Mountain climbing is a tremendous analogy for spiritual perseverance and persistence, which we need in our spiritual life, in our discipleship, and in Christian service. Nobody gets to the summit of the mountain in one leap. It takes thousands of steps. It takes direction finding, consulting the map and the compass, following the guide, and physical strain and pain. No pain, no gain. A determination not to give up is essential, not to turn back. And people who've turned back on the hike and given up, they regret it greatly. It's absolutely tragic how many will give up. But no matter how steep or how narrow the climb, no matter how precipitous the pathway, we need to trust the guide and persevere to the summit. 2 Timothy 3.14, but you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you've learned them. Now, as the cost of discipleship increases, the numbers decrease radically. I mean, just think in the Bible. At the first church picnic, well over 5,000 turned up for the first church picnic when the Lord multiplied the loaves and fishes. If you want a good attendance, you throw in food. You have good food, you get good attendance. I mean, that's just a fact. More people turn out to church when they've got a bring-and-share meal or something like that. But at the first church sermon, the sermon amount, there were several hundred. at the first prayer meeting, the Pentecost prayer meeting, 120. When the Lord wanted people to pray day and night and sell a power from above, came upon Him 120 gathered in the upper room. When it came to the first midweek outreach, the first door-to-door street evangelism, there were 70 who went out two-by-two to evangelize in the highways and the byways. When it came to daily discipleship, there were 12 men and about four women who followed the Lord everywhere. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Of those twelve men, one betrayed him, Judas, one denied him, Peter, one doubted him, Thomas, and they all forsook him. All. Only John went all the way to the cross and stood with the woman disciples who were all gathered at the foot of the cross. Only they identified with the sufferings of Christ at His worst moment when He was dying a disgraceful criminal's death, when there was every chance that John or the woman could be arrested and crucified as Jesus was. As the cost increases, the discipleship numbers decrease. And that's just a fact. Acts 20, 24, Paul wrote, But none of these things move me, nor do I count my life dear to me, so that I might finish my race with joy. and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify of the gospel of the grace of God." Now, in our mission, we've got some tremendous examples of spiritual stamina. The chairman of the Board of Frontline Fellowship, Rev. Bill Bethman, after whom this upper room is named, the Bethman Memorial Hall, he was involved in full-time Christian service 67 years. And much of that was behind the Iron Curtain, evangelizing some of the worst, most neglected mission fields on Earth, all around Russia and Romania, all the way around Czechoslovakia, Poland, Albania. He ministered throughout the communist world, right through to China. And so he ministered in 114 countries of the world. One of the best introductions I ever heard, because a good introduction is short and sharp. And the people who read your whole CV as an introduction, it's exhausting, and it takes up the time of the speaker. So one person introduced Bill Batten with these words. Two-thirds of the world is covered by water, and the other third by Bill Batten. And that's about true. 114 countries in the world. And you can see some of his Bibles, some of his recording instruments. He had a tremendous radio ministry in our display cabinets. But Bill Bathman persevered. When he heard of the Russians invading Czechoslovakia in 1968, he phoned Brother Andrew in Netherlands and said, I'll meet you in Wenceslas Square. So they raced through there. Of course, Bill Bathman was closer. He was in Salzburg, Austria. So he got there first. But Brother Andrew and Bill Bathman were standing in Wenceslas Square as the Russian tanks were coming in, crushing cars. And they were standing, handing out Russian New Testaments to the invading troops and climbing onto the tanks and passing New Testaments through the tanks, caps at the top. This is the mentality. People were running out of Czechoslovakia, they were pouring out, but there were two men going in, everyone else was going out, and they didn't have to worry about any... Customs officers stamping their passports and so on. The people were not worrying about controlling anyone coming in. They were just trying to control the people going out. They had one-way traffic, and there was nobody going the direction they were going. So it was, as I said, one of the easiest entry they ever had behind the Iron Curtain. But you need that mentality of, when everyone else is fleeing, I'm going to run to the trouble while the others are running away from it. And then, even when he is at the age of 88, Bill Bethlehem is still preaching and writing for Christ, and he was banned from the pulpit in America for giving an altar call. At his home church, he preached like the people were sinners and needed to repent. And so the church council was so horrified he was banned from the pulpit. And when I was there to take his memorial service, I was able to remind him of that. And I saw a few people squirming, as they should have, because banning this man from the pulpits, they're just stealing from themselves opportunities to be blessed. Then there's Reverend Fritz Hauss, Dr. Fritz Hauss, my theological professor at Baptist Theological Seminary. He served the Lord for over 70 years faithfully. He fought in the Russian front in the first invasion of Operation Barbarossa. Then he joined the Afrika Korps, North Africa. He ran a Bible study every night in the war. And as he said, even with the bombs falling on his head, they were having their Bible studies. He'd regularly tell us, you know, let us sing, a mighty fortress is our God. And the amount of times we stopped to sing Luther's hymn, he introduced me to the Reformation doctrines. Strong man with strong faith. And as he said, the just shall live by faith. You must have faith. Fritz Hauss was such a dynamic evangelist, never lost his zeal. Even in his 80s, he'd speak at our camps and courses, Reformation Day events. And now there's a man who's Afrika Korps, Eastern Front, tough man, endured prison camps as a prisoner of war, but he planted churches all over South Africa. I've gone to remote places of Eastern Cape and seen the church's memorial stone laid down there, the cornerstone laid by Fritz Hauss. He was a real church planter. And then you think of Reverend Erlo Stegen, founder and director of Kwasi Bansi Mission. 70 years of ministry. Can you imagine preaching from age 16 and learn Zulu so well that the Zulu king said, Erlo Stegen has the best Zulu in all of the kingdom. And I learned my diction, my pronunciation, my vocabulary from Erlo Stegen. Uncle Erlo was a person who could preach Zulu in better Zulu than the Zulu people spoke. You could walk outside the auditorium and hear this person speak, and you'd never imagine, as you walked in, to see a white man, a German, preaching in Zulu like that. He spoke so fluently, you'd never know that he was a missionary. He spoke like the local people. Enduring for seven decades, ministering and planting such phenomenal missions that I remember hearing back in 1990, somebody said, Erlisdegen is too strict. When his daughters turn 18, he'll never see them again. Well, was that ever a false prediction? Erlo Stegens, all of his six daughters, and his 26 grandchildren, sons are all still living in and around his home, all still committed to the mission, working in the mission, not just to the end of his life on earth, but to this day, continuing. As the Bible says, indeed, we count them blessed who endure, James 5.11. And then there's Gerhard Nils, the oldest surviving soldier who fought in the Second World War that I know of. Gerhard Nils was conscripted at age 15. He was fighting in the Battle of Berlin. with Panzerfaust sent to shoot out T-34s as the Russians came in. And he spent years in Soviet gulag concentration camps, suffering in the Arctic hellhole of Siberia. He escaped from Eastern Europe. He found his way to South Africa. He was converted in South Africa. He was called to missions, dedicated his life to winning Muslims to Christ. He's also a board member of Frontline. And Gerrit Nils has provided the best books and training of reaching Muslims for Christ. Here's someone who persevered. Garrett Nielsen, now he's in his 90s, and he's still persevering. And you get these youngsters in their teens giving up, they can't endure. And you get these senior citizens who have persevered. I mean, imagine, I mean, do you know anyone else who fought in the Second World War who's still alive today? He's not just alive, he's still active in ministry. He's not retired, he's not giving up, he's not sitting on the beach on a deck chair. And so, these are examples like Caleb. Give up your small ambitions and follow Christ. We need to free ourselves from this short-term, self-centered, instant, disposable, materialistic throwaway culture. The mentality of our age is so shallow. God has called us to be long-distance marathon runners. We need spiritual stamina. We need to stretch our minds and stretch our muscles, stretch our faith, deepen our faith. We need to widen our vision. God has so much more that He can do for us than we have ever imagined. And so we need to press on towards the goal of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Holding fast the word of faith, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain or labored in vain. Philippians 2.16. Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love him. James 1, 12. Galatians 5, verse 1. Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty by which Christ has set us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. So winners never quit and quitters never win. 2 Timothy 4, verse 8 declares, Finally, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day, and not to me only, but to all who have loved his appearing. So never quit. Persevere to the very end and beyond. God has got far more he wants to do through us than we've ever imagined.