Foundations of Character: Do The Hard Thing

Below is an excerpt from the sermon.

We’ve talked about foundations in life, foundations in the family, foundations in marriage, foundations with kids, rebuilding the foundations of our nation, and today we're going to give one more of those foundations, and that's the foundation of character. And the word character is simply the subconscious doing of right. It’s what you would do if no one ever found out. It is what you are when no one's around. Character. That's what our nation was built on. That's what a Christian family has got to be based on.

If we live just on our feelings, we're going to have a real hard life. We'll talk about that a little bit today. In second Kings 2. I'm going to jump around a little bit, not on the platform, but I mean in Scripture. But in 2 Kings 2:1—and this is starring the two famous prophets that were preaching in a very wicked nation of Israel at the time, Elijah and Elijah—

2 Kings 2:1–14: And it came to pass, when the Lord would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. 2. And Elijah said unto Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee; for the Lord hath sent me to Beth-el. And Elisha said unto him, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they went down to Beth-el. 3. And the sons of the prophets that were at Beth-el came forth to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head to day? And he said, Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace. 4. And Elijah said unto him, Elisha, tarry here, I pray thee; for the Lord hath sent me to Jericho. And he said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they came to Jericho. 5. And the sons of the prophets that wereat Jericho came to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head to day? And he answered, Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace. 6. And Elijah said unto him, Tarry, I pray thee, here; for the Lord hath sent me to Jordan. And he said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And they two went on. 7. And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went, and stood to view afar off: and they two stood by Jordan. 8. And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, so that they two went over on dry ground. 9. And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. 10. And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I amtaken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so. 11. And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. 12. And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces. 13. He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan; 14. And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the Lord God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over.

The text is in 2 Kings 2:10, “Thou hast asked a hard thing.”

I want to speak this morning on this subject. Do the hard thing. Do the hard thing. Father bless now the brief time we have and Thy word. Take this truth and put it in the youngest child to the oldest teenager to every adult in this room. Help the person that's been avoiding it and has been walking away from it. Show them what the hard thing is and their life that they need to accomplish. Help them in Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

Our nature is prone to take the easy route. When families split and there's child custody issues, it is natural for the child to choose the parent with the least amount of rules because it's the easy road. It is the easy road for the student to say which teacher is the easiest in a subject.

David Livingstone, the missionary to Africa, got a letter. Someone said, “We would like to come to Africa to help you, Mr. Livingstone. Can you tell us where the easiest road is to find you, and we will come.” He wrote back. He said, “There is no road, much less easy road. And if you're looking for an easy road, I don't want you to come help me.” No wonder he died alone! What a character! Doing the hard thing.

Life is not always easy. Jason Brockman this morning, who pastors in Colorado, he understands. His wife was in a car wreck less than 10 years ago, three children, broke her back. She's paralyzed from a little below the neck down. Does not have use of her hands, she's in a wheelchair, someone has to help her and her children get ready every morning, someone has to do her makeup in her hair. She's a pastor's wife. He wheeled her into the church this morning…as he got ready to preach and he tries to finish his building program.

Mary Esposito understands. Her husband is a pastor at a large church in Long Beach, California. On the way back from his missions’ conference, he said, “My head!” And he had a massive aneurysm. He still cannot speak clearly. He's been in a wheelchair for over seven years. I preached there just about every year. Joe Esposito, he's sitting in church now in his wheelchair kind of leaned back. His eyes aren't quite right. His mind will never be right. She has had to do the hard thing.

Margaret Stringer, our missionary last year in the ladies’ conference. 40 years she served as a missionary to the cannibals, a single lady never married. She went to a hard place, did the hard thing.

Our military has done the hard thing. They have left home. They've survived boot camp. They put their lives in danger. They were way underpaid. They saw horrific things happen. They saw deaths of loved ones. Ofttimes they were wounded. Sometimes they were captured and tortured and put into concentration camps. They did the hard thing so we could have an easy life.

It was the settlers who said, “Go west, young man,” and they came from coast to coast to establish these states. The Lewis and Clark's. It never was easy under attack, under the elements, under the lack of food, under traveling conditions. But they did the hard thing because they had something called character.

Here is a larger-than-life prophet. He's done eight miracles. He's trying to steer Israel back to God. He's about to go to heaven in a whirlwind. And his successor, Elisha, says, I” want a double portion of what you have, Elijah.” He said, “You have asked for a hard thing.”