Be Determined to Endure

 Robert Luccioni: Be Determined to Endure (Luke 8:15)

Now, we often talk about endurance. But here’s a question, Is endurance unique to Jehovah’s people? No, everybody has to endure things. We think, ‘People have to endure death and sickness and disasters and violence and pandemics and food shortages and much more.’ Why, even being persecuted for our faith does not set us apart from other people in the world. If you think about it, others have to deal with persecution for their religion, their ethnic background, even the color of their skin. Yes, because of imperfection and this wicked world we live in, everybody has to endure something.

Jesus highlighted, though, something that sets our endurance apart from others. And it’s in our text for today. I invite you to turn to Luke 8:15. Let’s read it again—Luke 8:15. It says: “As for that on the fine soil, these are the ones who, after hearing the word with a fine and good heart, retain it and bear fruit with endurance.”

Do you notice what separates us from others in the world—us as an organization? See, we hear the Word of God, we retain it, we endure, but we bear fruit while we endure. Now, what is the fruitage we bear while we are enduring? Well, the context of this scripture is talking about (and as our comments mentioned, it’s talking about) preaching—preaching the Kingdom message. And we know our brothers and sisters do that no matter what they’re going through; they continue telling others the good news about the Kingdom and about Jehovah.

What’s the other fruitage that we bear? Well, look at Colossians 1:10. It says: “So as to walk worthily of Jehovah in order to please him fully as you go on bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the accurate knowledge of God.” Yes, even while going through very difficult times, terrible times, what do our brothers and sisters do? Well, they continue to do “every good work.” They look to see how they can help others, support the Kingdom, support the organization, support their brothers and sisters.

Then there’s also Galatians 5:22, 23 that reminds us that no matter what it is that we’re going through, we continue to cultivate the fruitage of God’s spirit, which includes those beautiful qualities of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness, [and] self-control.” See, we endure, but we continue to bear these beautiful qualities. And, really, that’s one of the things that sets Jehovah’s organization as a people apart from the rest of the world, not just endurance, but bearing fruit while enduring.

And isn’t it true that that’s one of the things that makes us so proud to be part of this organization? As we look around and we see our brothers and sisters doing that, it makes us so proud of them, so proud of each other. Now, as we know, our brothers in Russia are enduring religious persecution, yet they keep on bearing fruit. Here are a few experiences.

One brother whom we will call Ivan has been in five different prison cells in the detention center where he is at the time of his writing. And his prayers include asking Jehovah to give him the opportunity to witness on every occasion. So, what does he do? He witnesses on every occasion. In one transfer, the prison official sent Ivan to a special section that had very harsh conditions. It was a section that is set aside for especially dangerous criminals. And they put Ivan in a cell with a man accused of terrorism. What would Ivan do? He immediately began to witness to him. Ivan says that his cellmate turned out to be very interested in the Bible. They often spoke about the Bible. Ivan has now been transferred to another cell and is witnessing to those inmates. But before leaving, he arranged for some brothers to begin corresponding with this man, and Ivan is hoping that this man continues to correspond and continues studying the Bible.

A sister we’ll call Nadia was told about the possibility that her prison sentence might be reduced to house arrest. Nadia was not as excited as one would naturally imagine. Why? Well, it’s because Nadia felt that she still had much work to do there in prison. See, over the six months that she was there, the prison officials had transferred, or had put, 22 different women in her cell with her. And Nadia witnessed to all of them. She conducted Bible studies with five of them. Nadia does not see an urgent need to leave the prison quite yet.

So, what’s the difference between Nadia and Ivan and their fellow inmates? They’re all enduring prison. But Ivan and Nadia are bearing fruit while they’re enduring. They’re witnessing to others; they’re doing good works; they’re maintaining their joy and other aspects of ‘the fruitage of God’s spirit.’ Now, of course, Jehovah’s spirit is helping them to endure (our brothers and sisters there in Russia). During the search of his home, one brother (while they were searching his home) became very, very anxious. He prayed to Jehovah. He said: “Jehovah, please, I do not know what to do. Please help me know what to do.” Right then the investigator who was leading the investigation was looking at our brother’s refrigerator, and he read the words expressively and loudly that were on a magnet on his refrigerator. “Do not be anxious, for I am your God.” The brother immediately recognized this was an answer to his prayer.

Others of our brothers and sisters are dealing with terrible violence and adversities, but they continue bearing fruit. Yamilet is a 44-year-old sister in Venezuela. She has two daughters, one 17 years old and one 20 years old. Where she lives has become a very, very dangerous place. Those who can move away do. And Yamilet says it’s very hard to keep a positive attitude. She worries about the safety of her two daughters. Yamilet tells of seeing people held at gunpoint while their little children look on, of witnessing executions on the street, of being caught in gun battles while she’s in the ministry. And she says most troubling is hearing the desperate screams at night of people pleading for their lives.

She says that some mornings, after particularly terrifying nights, she feels helpless and frightened to the point where she can’t even bear the thought of going out of the house and going out into the ministry. But what does she do? She says: “I give myself a good talking to. I say: ‘Yamilet, you’re a regular pioneer. You have to go out and preach the good news.’” So she says she goes out, and she’s always encouraged for doing so. Recently, Yamilet called on a woman who cried over and over again about the terrible things that were taking place. Yamilet says, “As I shared the Kingdom message with her, I thought: ‘Thank you, Jehovah. This would be me if I did not know you.’”

Abner and Isamar are also a young couple. They’re a young couple also from Venezuela. But because of the crisis at home, they moved to Peru nearly two years ago, and now their lives became much more difficult because of the coronavirus pandemic and the national lockdown. And though they were very careful and they took many precautions, both of them fell ill and were diagnosed with COVID-19. Now, they mentioned that they had been diagnosed with COVID-19 only to their families in Venezuela and to Jehovah in prayer. Just one hour later, a local sister knocked on their door and left a bag of food and an encouraging card for them. Not even a half an hour later after that, another sister brought a bag of food and a small amount of money for them.

When they had somewhat recovered, they realized that someone had stolen money from their bank account, and it was the money that they had set aside for a theocratic purpose. Again, they told Jehovah in prayer, but this time they told nobody else. Later that same day, they received money from a sister in the exact amount that they lost. And despite the many obstacles that they’re going through, they continue to put the Kingdom first in addition to sending money home to their families in Venezuela. They continue as regular pioneers. They are assisting the Peru branch with the Peruvian Sign Language work.

What’s the point? The point is that our brothers and sisters are enduring very, very difficult times all around the world. And yet, what separates them and what separates us from the rest of mankind who are enduring similar trials? We “bear fruit with endurance.” And isn’t it true that we could stay here all day and hear experience after experience of our brothers and sisters around the world, including those of you, of this family, experiences that you’re having bearing fruit while enduring?

https://www.jw.org/en/library/videos/#en/mediaitems/VODPgmEvtMorningWorship/pub-jwbvod24_35_VIDEO