Your Christian Race

Hall of Faith

The author told us about all of these great men and women of Faith and what they accomplished because of their faith in God

read 11 32-40

these people gave us examples of what faith looks like

the potential suffering because of faith

we somehow have the idea that now because we are a child of God that we will have a beautiful life

look at Noah

100 years of hard work, ridicule,

Joseph 30 plus years of slavery, and imprisonment. being sold as a slave by his own brothers

Vance Havner once said that because he was a man of faith, Moses was able to

“see the invisible, choose the imperishable and do the impossible”

The author tells us that we are in a race

this race is a race by ourselves. but is’s a race with all of the other Christians

our race is long distance race that ends when we die or is raptured

Abraham ran his race by himself

Paul ran his race as an only runner

at the end of his life he is writing his last letter to pastor Timothy

2 Timothy 4:7 LSB

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.

we also are in this race

so, after this long list of faithful people we have a

Therefore

V 1

we are in the coliseum there are wall to wall spectators

there are no individuals just a cloud of people who have gone on before

when I was in basic training what helped me is all the people who went before me

soldiers who passed the tests

soldiers who have done the confidence climb

If they did it I can too

the instructors who are pushing me have all done it and passed

we have this cloud of witnesses who have gone on before us

who gives us an example of what does a faith look like

sometimes we grow weary in the race

we are having family issues and someone steps out of the crowd like Joseph

we see his life and the outcome of all the heartache

Joseph in prison for something he did not do with no apparent end in sight

and we see his faith in God. and what God accomplished in his life. then we can go on

Therefore

lay aside every weight

when a runner is competing he may train with weights

a batter in the on deck circle warms up with a weighted donut on his bat but always takes it off before coming to the plate

a runner never competes in overalls and boots

we have weight that we carry that distracts us from our race

John Calvin - As he refers to the likeness of a race, he bids us to be lightly equipped; for nothing more prevents haste than to be encumbered with burdens. Now there are various burdens which delay and impede our spiritual course, such as the love of this present life, the pleasures of the world, the lusts of the flesh, worldly cares, riches also and honors, and other things of this kind. Whosoever, then, would run in the course prescribed by Christ, must first disentangle himself from all these impediments, for we are already of ourselves more tardy than we ought to be, so no other causes of delay should be added. 

we need to ask the Holy Spirit what is causing weight that slows us down

maybe that weight is something we think we can’t do without

but if the Holy Ghost informs us it’s got to go

to each of us this will be different. what is hindering you from trusting in God in accomplishing His mission in your life

Therefore

get rid of sin that puts us on the sidelines

What Sin? well all of it

the weight might be a sin

could be pride, gossip, selfishness, coveting, or anything. maybe it’s a sin that you don’t even think is a sin

ask the Holy Spirit to guide you, to convict you of the sin that is setting you to the sideline

Looking to Jesus

V 2

in our race of life we have a focal point

a north star that we sail to

Jesus is our fixed point of reference

Jesus caused us to have faith

Jesus gave us faith to believe

Jesus who perfects our faith

remember he man who Jesus asked if he believed and this man said yes. then the man asked Jesus to help his unbelief

Jesus is our faith perfecter

We struggle sometimes with faith don’t we ? be like this man ask for more faith

V 2

because of the joy of end product our savior endured the cross

the Joy it would bring the Father

The Joy it would bring to us

Now Jesus has completed the Fathers mission for Him

had faith in the Father to raise Him from the dead

we keep our eyes upon Jesus

Author: Helen Howarth Lemmel

Refrain: Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, In the light of His glory and grace.

V 3

consider what Jesus went through when we consider our race.

when we consider our present circumstances and the troubles, the trials we can look to Jesus and trust in Him to bring us through

or bring us home

this is what faith is; to trust in Jesus for our life here and now and our future life with Him

so when we are going through trials in this race of life

when we find ourselves in prison

or a slave sold by our family. Joseph comes along side of us and encourages us to keep our eyes upon Jesus

when we struggle with our health

when our race is to build an ark

or like Rahab the prostitute is to welcome and protect Israeli spies

to run this race is to always keep our eyes on the prize

Philippians 3:14 LSB

I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

whatever your lot in life is. it is given to us by God. and we are to run this race by faith

with the example of all the Godly men and women who have gone before us.

with Jesus’ example and His face we behold at the finish line