How do we run?

The theme of our conference is “Press On”

I hope that yesterday you received fresh courage.

You know where you are going and you are motivated, ready to go.

Now what? How do we get there?

Philippians 3:12–14 ESV

12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

What are the three questions:

What is the goal?

What is my motivation?

What does it mean to press on? And how do I run that race well?

It’s one thing to be motivated, but you also need some fresh ideas.

A conference should challenge you to consider trying new things.

As a pastor, if you are not growing you will limit the growth of your people. If you are not learning, you will continue to say the same things. You will preach the same message, just using different texts.

You cannot lead people to where you have not been. If you want your people to grow and to change, you have to grow and change. You have to be willing to get out of your comfort zone and learn.

There is another scripture where Paul talks about running for a prize and gives some ideas about how to do it.

1 Corinthians 9:24–27 ESV

24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Press on means you are in it to win it!

In other words, don’t be lazy.

The analogy is that of an athlete, a competitor.

Athletes spend their time improving their game. Each day they push their bodies to the limit to increase ether body's capacity to perform. They are always stretching their capacity.

Paul is not writing to athletes, he is writing to believers as those who are partners in the gospel and fellow ministers.

This is not just a game, this is the restoration of the world and the redemption of mankind.

Yesterday I told you that you don’t have to do anything to earn God’s favor - that’s true.

But today I’m telling you that if we are going to accomplish God’s plan for our lives we should step up our game.

Exercise discipline

1 Corinthians 9:25 (ESV)

25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things.

Self control is the ability to rule over ones own heart, mind and actions.

It is discipline.

Hebrews 12:7–11 ESV

7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

When we are children, we are disciplined by adults to help shape our character.

But when we are adults, we discipline ourselves.

And we submit to the Lord’s discipline.

We set rules and guidelines for ourselves to shape our own thoughts and behavior.

Focus on the important things, not just the urgent.

Leaders need to learn to manage their time

What is most urgent is not always most important.

Former president of the US Eisenhower was a military general who divided his priorities into four categories.

His chart has been the basis for professional time management for decades.

Urgent and important - these are the things that must be done.

They are both urgent in terms of time and important in term of priority.

Someone is sick or dying.

A bill is due to be paid or there will be consequences.

The house is on fire.

Things that are both urgent and important must be done right away.

Urgent but not important.

These are things that must be done immediately, but are not your highest priority or someone else can do it.

Delivering a message.

Making a purchase.

Even praying for the sick.

Whenever possible, these are the things that you want to delegate to someone else.

Not urgent but important.

these are things that can be done anytime, but we often do not get to them even though they are important.

Bible study to enrich ourselves and our ministry.

Meaningful time spent with our spouse and children.

Time spent alone listening to God.

These are things that you must make time for, but it will only happen if you are intentional.

You must set aside time to do these things or they will not happen.

Then there are those things which are neither urgent nor important.

These are time wasters - things that take up or time but give no meaning or purpose.

Video games or TV.

Social media and internet.

Gossiping.

Recreation is not a time waster if we are using it to grow our minds, our bodies or to build relationships.

Any of these things can be good if used properly, but most often we use them to escape reality.

Learn how to learn.

Recently, I have had the opportunity to continue my education.

The Hopewell Network encourages continuing education

But there is no promotion for education or degrees.

The emphasis is on character and calling.

I study because of what it does for me.

It makes me aware of topics and issues that I would not have discovered on my own.

It broadens my thinking by interacting with professors and other students with different backgrounds.

It is a discipline for me to read and study.

Even if you do not have the opportunity for a formal education, there is much that you can do to educate yourself.

If you are a good reader - then build a good library.

Whenever I hear a good book or a good author mentioned, I write it down so that I know what to look for when I am in a bookstore or a library.

Also, you can share books and sermons with each other.

If you have access to the internet, there are many good resources available, but you need to know what you are looking for.

Not everything on the internet is true.

Look at the comments under a preacher or teacher to see what is the impact of their ministry and who their critics are.

Are they just arguing about disputable things or are lives being transformed by their message?

Since COVID, all of my sermons are on YouTube.

I have people from India who tune in to our service and watch.

I also have been corresponding with a young man from the Philippines who has been learning about God from my sermons and writes to ask me questions.

He is using what he learns from my sermons to teach others in his village.

People are also a great resource.

Every person has a personal story.

Every person is like a book waiting to be read.

My father was a farmer who only completed eight grades of school, but he is very intelligent because he engages in conversation with smart people, finds out what they know and asks them questions.

He understands many things about plants, animals, the environment and how to grow the best crops, just from talking with other farmers and people who are experts in these things.

He also knows a lot about the Bible and about ministry and helping people because he has talked with so many people an learned from their stories and experiences.

One of the most important things I have learned from education is that when you learn how to learn, everything and everyone can become your teacher.

You learn by observing, asking questions and searching for answers; and then testing your answers in real situations.

Be intentional

1 Corinthians 9:26 ESV

26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air.

If I could share some wisdom from what I have learned, good things do not happen by accident, they happen by intention.

Chaos existed before creation, but God created order, beauty and design with his word or His intention.

If you are going to create order in place of chaos, you will need to be intentional - speak what you want to see happen.

Set goals for your life and ministry.

If you listen to any motivational speaker, attend any business seminar or purchase any book on how to be successful, they will tell you to set goals for your life.

What they fail to tell you is that you will probably fail at more than half of those goals.

But if you set three goals and fail at two of them, but you succeed at one - you have accomplished more than the person who has no goals.

So many people go though life aimless with no direction for their lives.

They live from day to day with no purpose other than to survive another day.

But you have a purpose - you are part of something much bigger than yourself.

You belong to God who loves you and who has a plan for your life.

To run for the prize means to live for something - a purpose and a goal.

So when you have a big goal - like my goal was to serve the Lord with all my heart and to preach the gospel - you have to break it down into smaller, specific goals that are achievable.

I knew that if I wanted to do this, I needed Bible School - God showed me the school and gave me a plan for earning money.

I knew that I needed experience - God opened a door of opportunity for me to serve in Denmark where I learned to preach and teach.

More recently, I saw that God was leading me more to minister to pastors and leader, but I had never served as a lead pastor, only an assistant pastor - two years ago I was asked to take a church that was in need and i have been able to test y leadership skills in that context.

What are your goals? Is your vision specific?

Have you spoken your goals?

Have you written them down?

Have you talked with God about steps you can take now toward the bigger goals he has given to you for the future?

Do you have a regular time when you thing about and pray about your goals?

Practice regular sabbath.

Hebrews 4:9–10 ESV

9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

Sabbath is a regular time of rest, just as God rested on the seventh day, we take one day a week to rest.

For most Christians, that day is Sunday - the Lord’s day.

But for Pastor’s that is often our busiest day, so it is important to take another day as our day of rest.

I could preach a whole message on Hebrews chapter 4, but because of time, I will summarize and you can study it on your own.

The rest that this chapter is talking about is not just ceasing from our labor, it is about a posture of our mind and heart before God.

It is where we give up trying to do everything in our own strength and put our faith in the promises of God.

It is about ceasing our striving and knowing that He is God.

Psalm 46:10 ESV

10 “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”

What if our weekly Sabbath is more than just physical rest?

What if ceasing our physical labor is just the beginning?

It is also coming to a place of rest in our souls where we surrender our thoughts and our plans to God and align with His.

Remember the goals that we talked about? - What if one day a week is an opportunity to realign our goals and our priorities with His goals and His priorities.

What if it is really about taking time to listen and follow God’s voice rather than just asking Him to bless our agenda?

Sabbath is not a day for doing nothing, it is a day for intentionally coming to a posture of rest and peace in following God.

It is putting His goals before ours and surrendering to His ways.

This is not something that we just do weekly.

We also do this daily as we spend time with the Lord - usually at the beginning of the day.

But then I also take time each month to walk and pray.

This is a time that I talk to God about my goals - or rather about His goals and how to take the next steps.

I also take an extended time away each year just to seek the Lord.

This is often accompanied by or preceded with a tie of fasting.

I go somewhere that I will not be distracted for 2-3 days.

Usually the first day is spent just resting, slowing down enough to hear God.

Then I begin to journal some questions that I ask myself each year using five categories:

Christ

Calling

Character

Community

Competency

I share my journal with a spiritual advisor and ask for His input.

You need to decide for yourself what your regular times of sabbath will be, but be intentional about entering into that place of rest and aligning your heart with His.

Watch out for yourself

1 Corinthians 9:27 ESV

27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

For those who are in ministry or any one whose job it is to care for others, it is important to also care for yourself.

Caring for yourself is not selfish.

If you do not care for yourself, you will not be any good to anyone else.

Paul recognizes this.

You can lead a great ministry but fail personally.

You can help many people but hurt those closest to you.

You can appear to win the race only to be disqualified because you cheated.

Look inside first.

As leaders, we need to make decisions which affect other people.

Sometimes we are called upon to make judgments about people and situations which call for wisdom and insight.

But what does the Bible say about when we judge?

Matthew 7:1–5 ESV

1 “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

First Jesus says not to judge, but there is a reason, because in judging others you will be judged - or you will expose yourself.

The Jesus goes on to tell a story where someone is try to remove a speck for another eye but they have a huge tree growing out of their own eye.

The point is not to say that you shouldn’t help someone with their problem.

The point is to make sure that you look at yourself first.

Why? Because the things that we are quick to judge in other people are the very things we struggle with ourselves.

How many times have you been angry with someone only to realize that what they are doing is not so different from what you would do or something you have already done?

Last time I was here, you met my son Martin. Martin is just like me, very smart boy and curious. I remember one time when he was a small boy we were driving in the car and I hear this voice from the back seat, “Daddy, are you speeding?”

I’m thinking, “he’s just a boy, What does he know about driving a car? Apparently, he has observed that there are speed limits!”

I had a choice, I could tell him to be quiet and mid his on business. Or I can deal with my own heart that wants to break the rules; that wants to be in charge; that wants to prove that I know more than may son. Or I can set an example for him by showing that I am not above the law.

As fathers and as leaders our discipline can be inappropriate if we find that the person or the situation that we are dealing with is exposing some unresolved area of our own hearts.

Whenever you find yourself becoming angry or defensive about a person or situation that you are dealing with, stop and ask yourself, “What is my problem? Why does this affect me so deeply? What am I trying to hide? Or what am I trying to prove?”

If you deal with what is in your own heart, you will have the heart of God when it is time to deal with another brother or sister.

Integrity: the inner person is consistent with the outer person.

Why would Paul say that he could be disqualified?

Isn’t this the great Apostle Paul that we are talking about?

He’s the one who wrote more books of the Bible that any other single author! ( I wonder if he knew how popular these letters would be when he wrote them?)

He’s the one who evangelized both Europe and Southern Asia!

How could Paul even think that he could mis the mark?

We certainly don’t want to think of Paul that way!

I could mention the name of a well-known Christian leader whom it became known only after their recent death that they were living a double life.

There had been accusations of sexual misconduct, but they were always handled discreetly by others and dismissed.

It was only after this man’s death that multiple witnesses came forward to tell a very different story from what most of us knew of this man’s life.

Eventually, members of his board also admitted that they had been covering for him because they feared what these allegations would do to his ministry.

Shouldn’t they also have feared for the truth and what this man was doing to his victims?

What happens to some people who achieve a certain notoriety and honor is that they feel the need to prop up their reputation.

But who they are on the outside - that is, who people think they are - does not match who they are on the inside.

Nobody wants to believe that the person whom they consider worthy of honor is also a broken human being.

That is why we as leaders need to recognize this about ourselves.

No one is going to tell you to judge your own heart first - you need to do it because you fear the Lord and your heart is humbled before Him.

If you begin to believe everything that people say about you - you will either be depressed or you will become conceited.

If you are listening to what God says about you, then you will work on the inner person so that the outer person is the same as who you are inside.

What God knows about you, and what you know about God in you, is more important than what other people think.

If you can be honest before God, you can be honest with yourself.

And if you can be honest with yourself, you can be transparent with others.

So there you have it: Press on!

You have fresh vision - God has a plan and a purpose and you are part of it.

You have fresh courage - The fear of the Lord, the love of Christ and the calling of God.

And you have fresh ideas- You have some step that you can take to improve your spiritual discipline by being intentional and by allowing God into the deep places of your heart.