"Christ, the Author of our faith endured a time of suffering, it was His birthright"

Christ the author of our faith endured a time of suffering. It was His birthright according to Hebrews 12: 1-18.

Hello and welcome. Let us set our sails for the year 2026 which will no doubt be a turbulent year and the signs of this are all around us.

And since we have billions of witnesses to the awesome grace, the love, the mercy, the truth, and the goodness of God, witnesses who have prevailed in their walk of faith, let us run on. And we must demolish fears, dispel doubts, disregard disillusionments, diminish disappointments, dismiss grievances, and most especially, we must conquer those compulsive, sinful habits that control our lives. Habits that attempt to prevent us from running on with patience. And while we run on in this seemingly endless marathon of suffering called life, let us have a laser-like focus on Jesus Christ, the author and perfector of our faith, who has shown us how to run this race by patiently taking up our cross daily.

Bear in mind that suffering is a birthright of the born again believer in Christ Jesus. Because following Christ in this fallen world ensures us of trials, of persecution, of being misunderstood, rejected, and of difficult times. And perhaps you're saying that suffering is natural for all living in this god-forsaken world. And you're correct.

However, for the believer in Christ Jesus, suffering is worn as a badge of honor. It is our right of passage to the glorious kingdom of God. And believers in Christ endure their afflictions and give God the glory because He has faithfully promised to deliver us out of them all. We'll talk more about this and give you eye opening revelation about the birthright struggle between Esau and Jacob and you will see that Satan is really after the birthright.

Let us pray. Dear Lord, we give You thanks and praise for this new season that is now here. And we are forever grateful for the tons of blessings that You showered us with in 2025 because of Your grace, Your mercy. We are still standing, dear Lord. Thank You, Father. Now dear Father, we turn the year 2026 over to You and we give You our will, our very heart and mind and we pray Lord for wisdom, for knowledge and understanding and for Your divine guidance. Protect us dear Lord keep us and use us for the building up of Your kingdom. In Jesus Christ's name we pray. Amen.

Welcome friend to the Jeshurun GB channel in the Bahamas. Make sure you press the subscribe, the like, and share buttons on this video so that you will receive more messages like this and that you would help us send God's Word forth into the world. As we run on in 2026, let us take a page out of Christ's book and set our sights upon the flawless way that He ran His race. As we examine the trail He left for us to follow, we see that He gladly endured the shame of hardships such as physical abuse, emotional abuse, scourging, stabbing by spear, and being nailed to a cross. He did this because of the joyous and glorious kingship promised Him by The Father.

Now having won the victory, He's sitting at the right hand of the throne of God and is soon coming to claim us, His prized citizens. As we examine His trail found in the reports of men of faith who witnessed His journey, we are able to find methods, markings, and notes passed on to us to show us the path that He followed. And these evidences also point out the obstacles that we must navigate in order to reach the goal line. And we are grateful for His direction.

We must take every step of Christ's journey into serious consideration because He endured such bitter hostility against Himself without wavering. And this will help us deal with our own light afflictions without growing weary and without losing heart. Remember that in our struggles against the enemy, our blood has not been shed as His blood was. And we seem to forget God's Word of divine encouragement to us in which He calls us sons and daughters saying, "My son, do not make light of the discipline of the Lord and do not lose heart and give up when you are corrected by Him."

So let us understand this one thing. The Lord disciplines and corrects those whom He loves. And He punishes every son whom He receives and welcomes to His heart. There's no one chosen by God who does not go through the rigorous process of discipline and correction. And therefore, we must submit to God during the course of His disciplining process because He's dealing with us the way a Father deals with His children. For what child is there whom The Father does not discipline? Now if the Lord excuses us from His discipline in which all His children then participate, scripture tell us, then we are not His legitimate children.

And furthermore, according to verse 9, we have had earthly Fathers who disciplined us and we submitted ourselves to them as they trained us. So why should we not submit ourselves even more obediently to The Father of Spirits and live especially since our earthly fathers disciplined us only for a short while and they were limited in their ability to discipline us properly. But The Father's discipline is righteous and He does it for our own good and it is imperative that we are disciplined otherwise we will not be worthy of sharing in His holiness.

Now, for the time being, scripture says, "No discipline brings joy, but seems sad and painful. Yet to those who've been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness." And this is simply the right standing with God and a lifestyle not patterned after the lives of movie stars, powerful leaders, tech billionaires, and dictators, but a lifestyle designed according to the life of Jesus Christ, the lowly one. It is a lifestyle that includes an attitude of willingness to conform to the will of God in a life of true obedience.

So then in 2026, let us strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that tremble, cut through and make smooth, straight paths for your feet, path that are righteous and safe, always leading you in the directions that are pleasing to God. In this way, the leg that may be lame will not be pulled out of joint, scripture says, but will instead be healed. In other words, our weaknesses will not do us in, but will become our strength by the grace of God. It is important that we live at peace also with all men in 2026.

Now, if we are to prevail in 2026, we must do a better job of dealing with our fellow man than we did in 2025. The Lord expects us to continually pursue peace with all men and sanctification or holiness without which no one will ever see the Lord. And this calls for choosing our words carefully and for being mindful how we treat others, even our enemies. And we must make sure that we do not fall short of the grace of God by acting rashly or harshly toward others. And we must make sure that we do not allow bitterness and resentment to spring up in our relationships causing trouble which will defile us. And this is exactly what happened between Esau and Jacob as a result of a quarrel over birthright.

On the topic of birthright, it is very important in many countries like Israel, the US, the Bahamas, and many others. It is a particular right of possession or privilege that a person has from birth especially as an eldest son. It relates to the things being due to a person by virtue of their birth or the order of their birth. In America for instance, citizenship is a birthright and all who are born in the US are automatically entitled to citizenship. And whether their parents are in the US legally or not, this is true.

In the case of Esau, he was the eldest son and his birthright entitled him to a double portion of his father Isaac's estate. But there was also a spiritual birthright that would fall into his hands because the Lord had made a covenant with his grandfather Abraham. And by this covenant, the Messiah was to come through the lineage of Abraham and more specifically through the lineage of the eldest son. And clearly it did not always end up going through the lineage of the elder son. In this case, it did not.

Esau disregarded his birthright. And in a moment of physical weakness, as he hungered for food, he traded it away to Jacob, his younger brother, for a bowl of stew. He came to regret this later on in life when it really mattered. But it was too late. In the end, the birthright went to the younger son, Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, and he became the father of the nation. Clearly, the fight was over something huge and very consequential.

Because Esau did not think much of his precious birthright, throwing it away for a bowl of stew, the Word of God called him a fornicator and a profane person. And later on when he realized its importance, he wanted it back. He wanted to regain his status as the material heir and as the spiritual heir to the promise of his father. But he was rejected and no doubt God's hand was in all of this. There was no way for him to repair the damage done because of his callous disregard for God's blessings. And he tearfully tried to reverse this curse, but alas, it was too late.

And like profane Esau, many believers in Christ, born of the spirit, disregard or take lightly their birthright to the kingdom of heaven. And when they do so, they are in danger of losing it altogether, as is evident in the parable of the five wise and five foolish virgins. When we return to the filth of life in the world from which we have been delivered and set free, we become like Esau and are considered as despisers of our birthright.

Now suffering is the birthright of the Christian and he should not view it as a negative entitlement but regard it as the struggles that The Father uses to produce character in His children. And some have called suffering a mark of Christian identity. They've called it a gift of divine grace. It is neither something to be avoided nor a sign of a lack of faith.

For instance, Romans 8:17 calls born again believers heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him. And the Apostle Paul says, "All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Suffering, therefore, is our heritage. Let us bear up under it with gladness. For if we share in Christ's suffering, we will certainly surely share in His glory. God bless you in the wonderful name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

Now, Father, we give You thanks and praise for the listeners to this message and pray a special blessing upon them in this year 2026. Oh God, guide them, order their steps. We pray in Jesus holy name. And if there's any who has listened to this message that do not know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, soften their heart. And we pray, Father, that as I lead them in this prayer that they will commit their way unto You. We thank You, Father, in Jesus holy name. Amen.

Friend, please engage your heart and say this prayer after me:

• Father, I am a sinner.

• I am sorry for all my sins.

• Dear Lord, I crave Your forgiveness.

• Thank You for Your patience with me and for Your forgiveness.

• I have decided to accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.

• Dear Lord Jesus, make my heart Your home.

• I give You the key to my heart because I now belong to You forever.

• Please keep the key.

• Even if I should ask for it, You have my permission, never to return it to me.

• Please give me the Holy Spirit to lead me into all truth.

• Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul. Amen.

Welcome friend to the body of believers in Christ. There are so many of us here awaiting the return of the Good Master. In the meantime, we encourage you to become water baptized as quickly as possible. Let your pastor know that you've committed your life to the Lord and you want to be baptized the way Jesus Christ was baptized.

Begin reading the Word of God every day. It is your daily food. You will need it to stay strong in Christ Jesus. Reading audibly as often as possible because faith comes by hearing the Word of God.

Begin in the book of John and then go to Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Pray daily. Attend at your local church and one glad morning the Savior will come and receive us all unto Himself and we shall forever be with the Lord. God bless and keep you in Jesus mighty name. Amen.