‘There is more’

Introduction

Hello + F1

Hi everyone, it is such an honour to be here with you this morning.

I heard from Mum and Dad that the Easter service last weekend was so great, it’s always so encouraging to hear the ways that God is using this church to bring people to Jesus, it’s wonderful.

The week before Easter was one of my highlights each year, and that’s the Formula 1 - did anyone here go? I know Jono is a big fan so I’m not surprised that he went! It’s such a fun event for me because I’ve been watching F1 since I was a child and even though when you actually go to the F1 unless you have a seated ticket which we didn’t it’s not like you see heaps, you see the cars come by and watch on the screens but it’s something special to see and hear the cars in person.

We don’t always think of the F1 drivers as athletes, but you know they actually have to do significant preparation much like other atheles do. I find the most interesting training they do being neck training. If you think about it, they have signiciant G-forces throughout the lap, sometimes turning a corner at 200 km/h or slowing down from 350 km/h to 100 km/h in a short period, and you can imagine the strain that has on their neck, so they have to keep in tip top shape.

4-minute mile

As someone myself that is very competitive and loves sport, I really enjoy hearing those inspiring stories of teams that had a comeback win or those sort of rags to riches-type stories. One story that really inspires me that you probably have heard before is the breaking of the 4-minute mile. I did not write this myself, but I want to read to you a summary of the breaking of the 4-minute mile, because to me it is such an inspiring story:

[The saga of the four-minute mile is not just a story of a singular triumph but a narrative of perseverance, setbacks, and the relentless pursuit of a seemingly unattainable goal. For years, the sub-four-minute mile was considered a threshold beyond human reach, a barrier fortified by the collective belief in its impossibility. Athletes and experts alike viewed it as a pinnacle of athletic achievement that might never be conquered, with physiological and psychological barriers presenting formidable challenges.

Central to this narrative is Roger Bannister, a British medical student, who emerged as a key figure in the quest to break this elusive barrier. Bannister's journey was marked not only by his methodical and scientific approach to training but also by his resilience in the face of failure. Before his historic success, Bannister experienced several setbacks, including a disappointing performance at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, which only fueled his determination. These failures were pivotal, serving as learning experiences that informed his strategy and preparation.

Bannister's approach was characterized by a blend of rigorous physical training and a deep understanding of the psychological barriers that needed to be overcome. He was a pioneer in employing interval training, a technique not widely used at the time, which was instrumental in enhancing his speed and endurance. His training was balanced with his medical studies, illustrating his remarkable ability to juggle competing demands.

The historic attempt took place on May 6, 1954, at the Iffley Road Track in Oxford, under less-than-ideal weather conditions. The windy day threatened to thwart Bannister's attempt, but he pressed on, supported by pacemakers Chris Brasher and Chris Chataway. The pacemakers played a crucial role in maintaining the pace for the initial laps, setting the stage for Bannister's final push.

As Bannister crossed the finish line, the announcer Norris McWhirter made the historic announcement, initially drowned out by the ecstatic crowd, that Bannister had completed the mile in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds. This moment transcended the realm of sports, shattering the psychological barrier and redefining the limits of human potential.

Bannister's breakthrough was a watershed moment in athletics, catalyzing a seismic shift in mindset. The psychological barrier, once deemed insurmountable, was now breached. In the decade that followed, the record was broken numerous times, underscoring the idea that the four-minute barrier was not a physical limit but a mental one. Bannister's legacy was not just in breaking the record but in showing that barriers are there to be broken.

The story of the four-minute mile, with Bannister's initial failures and the subsequent flurry of record-breaking performances, is a testament to human resilience and the indomitable spirit of perseverance. It serves as an enduring reminder that the greatest obstacles often lie not in the physical realm but in the confines of our own minds.]

We

Roger Bannister had a vision to defeat the illustrious 4-minute mile, and actually you and I, whether we realise it or not are always driven by a vision, too. We have a vision about where we want to live, what we want to do for work, what kind of friends we want to have, and what kind of impact we want to have. Some of us have incredibly grand visions, like Elon Musk’s vision is to make humanity multi-planetary, and that drives everything he does. Others of us maybe have less grand visions, but we have a vision to see our families to come to know Jesus or to start a business someday. Others of us have maybe gotten so used to everyday life, if we are honest with ourselves, our vision is to coast, have a nice comfortable life and retire as early as we can so we can just chill.

We also hold beliefs about what God has for us or can do in and through us. We have some idea about our relationship with Jesus, believing maybe that we can get to know Him more, or that we can never get to know Him as much as “those special people.” We might be sick and have a vision that God can bring healing to our bodies, or we might have a vision that this is simply our lot in life. We have visions about how God can use spiritual gifts or not through us.

Vision drives us whether we know it or not.

What we often don’t realise though in each of these things, is that God has more of us. God longs for us to believe Him to do more, for us to know Him more, and for us to experience the health and freedom that He has for us.

God

Hebrews 11 & 12

I love Bible stories about faith, don’t you? Just like we hear the 4-minute mile story, we read about the greats of the Bible, the David’s, the Samson’s, the Elijah’s, and it stirrs our faith as we read what God has done in and through them. A great chapter that summarises some of the great faith stories of the Bible is Hebrews 11. This is one of my favourite’s and we don’t read the whole chapter, but if you have time I encourage you to go back and read the entire thing, it will really stir your faith! In fact, it’s often called “the hall of fame of faith,” in the same way that sports honours its best, God honours some peeopole of faith in this chapter.

We are starting in chapter 11, but to summarise what has come before, the writer of Hebrews has talked about Jesus, about how He is God but also how He became a man on earth being fully God and fully man, and how He died as the perfect sacrifice, making the Old Testament offerings obsolete, being fulfilled in Jesus. This comes before Hebrews 11-13, which show how to live out our faith in light of this theological foundation. We must always remember, including in what I am sharing today, that everything centres around Jesus. Everything apart from Jesus is pointless.

The author then takes us through a series of members of the “hall of faith.” It is too long for us to read this morning, but it includes stories such as”

Noah building the arc in faith

Abraham leaving his home and going to another land that God said He would receive

Abraham and Sarah having Isaac as a child in faith even though she was barren

Abraham offering Isaac, believing that God could raise him from the dead

Moses’ parents hiding him for three months when he was born

Moses refusing to stay in Pharaoh’s household, but choosing following God instead

The people of Israel going through the Red Sea

After mentioning all these people, it says in verse 32:

New Living Translation Chapter 11

32 How much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets. 33 By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight. 35 Women received their loved ones back again from death.

But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. 36 Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. 37 Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated. 38 They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.

Let’s jump to chapter 12..

New Living Translation Chapter 12

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. 2 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. 3 Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up.

What an encouraging section of the Bible! These incredible men and women were used by God in such mighty ways, and then we are encouraged, in light of this, to run God’s race for us much like they did. Seeing how God has used people in history can inspire us to believe that God can and will do the same in us, to believe that God can do more and wiill do more with our lives!

Leonado Da Vinci

Last Saturday we went as a family to the Lume to see the Leonardo Da Vinci exhibition as part of the Lume - if you have not visited the Lume I highly recommend it, it’s different to a typical art exhitibion, it’s a video and light show that summarises his life and some of his contemporaries through music and their artworks. It’s pretty cool, they actually animate some of the paitings so they really come to life. Da Vinci was an incredible person, most of us only have 1 lifetime but somehow he seemed to have many lifetimes in 1 lifetime - He was an increidble artist, scienist, engineer, architect, musician and scuptor. He was really good at every single one of these, world-class in fact. They had on display copies of his artwork, and they had rebuilt some of the things that he had invented which included practical things like a closet all the way to military equipment. At the end of his life he felt that he had not accomplished much, and yet here we are 500 years later influenced by his works and still admiring his paintings such as the Mona Lisa, and the Last Supper. One of his paintings even sold for US$450m at auction in 2017. I bring this up to say that I was inspired by this man to do more with my life, because I believe that God has more for my life that what I am experiencing right now, and I believe the same for you!

In Hebrews 11 we read these incredible stories, and it inspires me to believe God to use me in incredible ways! I read stories of others like Billy Graham, who still holds the record for the most attendees at the MCG, more than Taylor Swift, and what an impact He had on presidents, on the world and on the church. People like Dietrich Bonhoeffer who felt it was his duty to stop Hitler, though being executed in the process, is still an inspiration to many today to be willing to give everything up for the cause of Christ. God has so much more for us, more than we can ask or think, if we are willing to take hold of it.

Why have an aim?

Paul also uses this ‘race’ metahpor in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, saying:

New Living Translation Chapter 9

24 Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! 25 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. 26 So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. 27 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.

Where you set your aim determines where you will finish.

Paul says everyone runs in a race, but only one gets to prize, so run to win. Where you set your aim determines where you will finish. Remember the 4-minute mile? The aim was not a 6-minute mile or a 5-minute mile, it was a 4-minute mile. As I said at the beginning, each of us actually has a vision in our heart, whether we realise or not. Some of as just have a vision to run in the race right now, but God is calling us to run to win, to believe for more.

I believe this morning that God is re-awakening dreams in the hearts of us that He spoke to us long ago but we let go of - and God is saying, “aim to reach that vision!”

Where you set your aim also determines how you prepare

I have a friend who recently ran a triathlon, he even travelled to Perth for it, he’s very into it, and you know he had to do some signicant preprations for it. A full ironman consists of a 3.8 km swim, and 180 km bike ride, and finishing off with a full marathon run of 42.2 km. How crazy is that! I can’t imagine even running a marathon, let alone also doing a 3.8 km sim and a 180 km ride!

When athletes train for a triathlon, they have to plan months in advance and follow a strict training regimen, building up swiming, biking and running. The preparation alone is so tough!

Now imagine if my friend trained for his triathlon by only running, and doing no biking and swimming, and then showing up for the race, how do you think he would do? Pretty poorly, right? Imagine showing up and being halfway through your swim and now knowing what it’s like to then swim another 1.9 km. By setting his aim on the triathlon, it changed how he prepared.

Maybe God has placed something in your heart and you are just waiting for God to fulfil it. Our God is a relational God, so He actually does not operate that way - He actually longs for us to co-labour with Him. He wants us to prepare with Him for the fulfilment of His plans for our lives.

Setting an aim gives you faith to endure the tough moments

Hevrews 12 reminds us to run with endurance the race that is set before us. When we don’t know where we are heading or when our vision is too small, when pain and difficulty comes, it really, really messes with us. But when we have a vision, as Kris Vallotton says, “vision gives pain a purpose.” It helps us to endure when times are tough because it helps us see first of all that life is temporary, and also helps us to see how what we are suffering now will help us in the future.

How do I set my aim?

I want to make this highly practical, because it’s easy for me to hype you up to just “believe for more,” but what does it look like? L

Set your aim higher in ministry

I want you to believe for more in terms of the ministry God has for you. Every single one of us has a ministry, ministry is not just preaching on a stage, it’s also at your work, it’s with your family, it’s in everyday life.

Ask God for a greater vision for your ministry - to believe for more of your colleagues, friends and family to be saved, for God to use you mightily in discipleship, small groups and when you have opportunites to share and preach. Believe for God to use you like He said in Mark 16 to see the sick healed, even if you have not experienced that yet. Stretch yourself beyond your comfort zone, and step out and watch how God moves.

You can prepare for this by reading the stories in the Bible we talked about today and many more, I would start by reading the book of Acts. Read testimonies and stories from books about how God has moved in the past to inspire you for God to do the same through out. Remember the 4-minute mile - there are many who have gone before us that were just like you and I, and have made a way for us to do the same.

Set your aim higher in your workplace

Joseph in the Bible had a pretty rough “workplace,” so to speak - he was a prisoner, and yet God blessed him and put him in charge of the prison, and eventially the number two of the whole country. A lot of us in our workplaces might feel like we are in a prison, and yet despite that, God can do great things in our workplaces! e

WHat does more look like? Believing for God to show up in your workplace, to start conversations about God, but also to bless the business you work for. What would it look like for your business to thrive and grow because you are there and God works in you? Not so that you can get recognition, but because God’s blessings are actually a calling card that point to Jesus. Did you know that? Part of why God blesses those that are not believers is so they can see the blessings and see that God is real. What if every department you went to was blessed because God is in you?

How can you prepare for this? Fasting and praying for your workplace, working hard, and being ambitious - not selfishly, but for the glory of God.

Set your aim higher in your personal life

This is less to do with where you are heading and more in your own health and life.

Set your aim on Jesus

You know ultimately, Jesus is all that matters. In setting your aim on Jesus, He will give you the right vision, He will give you dreams and ideas, and He will work through you. And ultimately, joy comes through knowing Him, not by just doing things for Him.

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