Run the Race, It's Your Time
Notes
Transcript
I have been struggling with what to share tonight for a while. I always knew the day would come for us to step away from youth ministry. As I have struggled and wrestled, of course Mama Dest came in clutch. Now is your time to run! Run with your dreams. Run with leadership. Run with passion. Run!
Paul often compared the Christian walk with a race. He even outlines how to run and why we run this particular race.
Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.
How do we run so we aren’t disqualified? How do we run well?
Fix your eyes on Jesus
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.
It is easier to run when you are looking up, not down. Focus on Jesus and everything else we melt away.
Fixing your eyes means focusing all your attention on that thing. When you are completely focused on Jesus, He takes care of all the distractions.
Discipline your heart, mind, soul, and body.
“A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. A tree is identified by its fruit. Figs are never gathered from thornbushes, and grapes are not picked from bramble bushes. A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.
Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
We as humans are complex and built with different parts. If one part is out of whack, the whole body suffers. The church is no different.
We must discipline every one of our dimensions in order to completely follow Jesus.
No one enjoys discipline in the moment. But no one like a spoiled brat either.
3. Listen to your coaches
Remember your leaders who taught you the word of God. Think of all the good that has come from their lives, and follow the example of their faith.
Obey your spiritual leaders, and do what they say. Their work is to watch over your souls, and they are accountable to God. Give them reason to do this with joy and not with sorrow. That would certainly not be for your benefit.
The coaches, leaders, pastors in your life are there to guide and help you. They have been running this race and want to help you run better and farther.
4. Never Quit
I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
Never stop. Never give up. Never quit. This race is a marathon, not a sprint. You all have what it takes to finish strong. Hebrew talks about a great cloud of witnesses that cheers us on. That is from Jesus to now. All having ran the same race you are running. Finish your leg. It’s your time.