Run To Jesus (Hebrews 12:1-2, Jeff Kliewer)

Okay, we're good now. Folks, it's good to see you. Glad you came to Cornerstone today to worship with us, and we're looking forward to just rejoicing before our

Lord today. It's a beautiful day outside, and we're just grateful that you're here. I want to start the announcements with an email we got from our brother

Stan. Now, Stan has had some kidney stone problems, but he wanted to say this.

He says, I am home and recovering from the kidney stone procedure. This has been a long while for Stan. He got a stent first, and then he had an operation to remove the stone.

But he says, I still have a few more days for the procedure to be completed before removing the stent.

It actually still isn't out yet. The stent will be removed Monday, so please keep Stan in prayer. Tell all that I am very thankful for their prayers and words of encouragement.

I will leave you with the words from the song, They'll Know We Are Christians By Our Love.

We are all one in spirit. We are all one in spirit.

We are all one in spirit. And we pray that all unity may one day be restored.

And they'll know we are Christians by our love. By our love. Yes, they'll know we are

Christians by our love. And I know your love through your prayers.

For Christ gave me strength and encouragement through this ordeal. And I thank you for your love and your prayers,

Stan. We give thanks and we praise God for that. We give thanks and praise God for so many of our other brothers and sisters that the

Lord is watching over right now. We also found out that Charlotte Fortescue is home now from rehab.

And we praise God and we rejoice for that. And we also praise

God for Kimberly also feeling better at this point. She's hoping to start teaching the adult

Bible fellowship class, which is meeting right now for the ladies. Sometime in October, she thinks.

But right now we're also thankful that Jill Deegan has stepped in to be a substitute teacher.

So ladies, ABF is back on. So take note of that. So that's right now at this time.

Also, another schedule change we had is that Monday night precept with the ladies.

6 .30, that's meeting again Monday for the first time in a while.

So ladies, you're back on for Monday night too, 6 .30. And ladies, there's a lot of stuff with the ladies going on, isn't there?

But ladies, on Tuesday morning, the Bible study at 9 .30 to 11.

They don't have child care for that, but you're all welcome to come. It's on a video stream as well, from what

I understand. But this is going to be every week now. So all of those things are a little bit new.

Plus, we have Sunday night prayer tonight, Monday night men's tomorrow, the

Isaiah study on Wednesday and youth group on Friday night. So all those things coming up.

Also, is everybody excited about the Eagles today? Are you? You won't be after pastor's sermon.

I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. You have more important things to do though, right? Like the ministry fair day. Sure. If you have

Jesus in your heart, I know, I know that you have the heart of service.

And you don't want to know why I know that? Because Jesus did. And if Christ is in your heart, you'll also desire to serve.

But you may think, well, gosh, where can I fit in? Where can I do something in the body? Well, we're going to let you know.

I'm going to ask a couple of guys to pass out some sheets. Looks like Billy's got it.

And Jack. These are some possible things you could get involved in in the church.

And there are all kinds of different categories. Some of it is watching children. Some of it is teaching. Some of it is being involved in worship.

Some of it is being involved in the nuts. We've talked a lot about love life.

And we've been thinking a lot about babies recently. And how beautiful the gift of life is.

And I can see a little baby right now too. We need some nursery workers too.

To help take care of those beautiful little lives that the Lord brought into the world. So if any of those things the

Lord is laying on your heart, we hope you'll fill the sheet out. But also we hope you'll join us outside after the service.

Because we're going to have a fellowship time with sandwiches. We'll have a room on the left at the end. And we're going to have tables set up for the ministries of the church.

And you can come and ask everyone who to see, who to talk to, how you can get involved.

We're really looking forward to it, folks. So I think that's it for the announcements. Except one more thing.

Well, I guess I'll pray through that announcement. I think the guys are done. So let's go to the

Lord in prayer. Father, we do rejoice in you, Father. If it was a rainy, miserable day out there,

Father, you are still good and you do not change. And, Father, we are so grateful,

Father, to be in your house and worship you today. But you know what, Lord, it is a beautiful day.

And we're going to rejoice in that. We're so thankful, Father, for the beauty that you've created.

We're so thankful that we have voices today to lift up to you. We're so thankful,

Father, that you're watching out over our friends who are being healed by your mighty hand. We think especially,

Father, of our sister Janet. And, Lord, just upholding her, uplifting her, and the loss of her husband,

Rich. Father, we pray for her. We thank you so much, Lord, that you are our God and you are our

King. And you watch over all of our lives, Lord. Father, we pray for our worship service to honor you, to lift up your holy name and give praise to our

Lord. We thank you for the musicians. We pray that you'd be with them. And we pray that you'd be with Pastor Jeff as he brings the message today.

We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's sing together.

Voice in the dark.

A song that lights up the stars. One breath that gives life.

One sovereign and power. Who speaks with thunder and fire.

One Lord, one King. There is no other that can compare to you.

You are the one alone in greatness.

The one who never changes. Jesus. You are the one who rose in power.

The one who reigns forever. Jesus. The one true

God. One, we sing, let me sing.

One Lord above all. There is no other that can compare to you.

You are the one alone in greatness.

The one who never changes. Jesus. You are the one who rose in power.

The one who reigns forever. Jesus. The one true

God. One true God.

And we have seen the glory of the only

Son of. Yes, we have seen the glory of the only

Son of. The one who never changes.

Jesus. The one true

God. One true God. One true

God. We sing together to praise his name because he is the one true

God. The one who saves. The one who rescues us from disaster in our lives.

Could save themselves. Their own soul could heal.

Let us sing.

Your grace is deeper still. And you alone can rescue.

You alone can save. You alone can lift us from the grave.

You came down to find us. Let us out of death.

You alone belong to the highest grave.

Yes, your love covers death.

You alone can rescue. You alone can save.

You alone can lift us from the grave. You came down to find us.

Let us out of death. You alone belong to the highest grave.

Lift up our eyes. You are the giver of life.

Lift up our eyes. You are the giver of life. Lift up our eyes.

You are the giver of life. Lift up our eyes, lift up our eyes to the camera of love.

Yes, you, you alone can save. You alone can lift us from the grave.

You came down to find us, let us out of death.

To you alone belongs the highest praise.

You alone can lift us from the grave.

You alone can lift us from the grave.

You alone can lift us from the grave. You make it easy to love.

You are good and deep, I'll enjoy it too.

You make it easy to trust.

You will be faithful too.

Jesus all I want is you.

That's good.

You took my place upon that cross. You redeemed what

I had lost. You're the whole world, you're the center of my life.

You're the treasure, you're the prize. Lord, it's you.

Jesus all I want is you.

Which I run to, you lead me through.

That's it, just you.

For you are by my side. Jesus all

I want is you.

Jesus all I want is you. Good morning.

Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we come to you this morning recognizing that we are in a fight, we are in a race.

And Lord, when we come to the end of this battle, like Paul, we want to say, I have fought the good fight.

I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Lord, we pray that you would speak to us now at the beginning or in the middle of the race so that when we get to the end and we stand before you to receive an imperishable crown, we'll have no regrets.

We will have run the race marked out before us and have no regret.

That's our prayer this morning. So speak to us, Lord, like a coach to spur us on, to teach us.

In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. My son Tim was probably about four years old, maybe five, when we went to Laurel Acres Park and we were just walking around the park when all of a sudden we saw a group of teenagers all the way down to little kids running in a pack through the park.

And they were led by an older guy with a long ponytail and a handlebar mustache.

He was like the Pied Piper. He was just running through the park and all these kids were running with him.

So we said, let's see if we can keep up. And we started running behind this group and we followed them through the woods and over the hill and finally they stopped at the bottom of the hill.

And I asked the Pied Piper, hey, what is this group? Can we run with you?

And it turns out they're called the Mount Laurel Striders. They're a running club, cross -country club.

And he welcomed Tim to join the club and Tim ran for years with the Striders. And it turns out that Mike Ritchie, who is the coach of the

Mount Laurel Striders, is an amazing athlete. To this day he's ranked nationally for his age group.

But in the 1970s and going into 1980, he had qualified for the

Olympics. He was all set to go to the Olympic Training Center when in 1980

Jimmy Carter pulled the U .S. out because of the Cold War and it was being held in Russia, so the

U .S. didn't compete that year and he never ran in the Olympics, but he was that kind of athlete.

And now he devotes himself to these kids year after year, teaching them to run.

And at the base of that hill, when I first heard him start to coach, it blew my mind. Because I would have thought that the coach of a running club would only have to say one word to coach his team.

Run! Like what else do you say to a running club? Just run! You'll get better the more you run.

But it turns out that in running, there are many ways that you can coach to get better at it.

Like you need to be taught to run on a tangent, directly on a straight line and never go bobbing and weaving because you're wasting your energy.

And how to take a hill, how to lean into it and shorten your stride and how to pass people on hills and break their confidence and all of these techniques that a runner learns.

But the most important one of all is that you need to pace yourself.

You can't start off by burning out of the gate because you'll crash and you'll actually turn out slower than if you had gone out slower.

So you have to learn how to pace yourself as a runner. All of these things are lessons. As we come to Hebrews chapter 12, we are taught how to run the race of life.

And young people, you want to get this early before you've run and wasted half your life.

If you've wasted half your life, guess what? It's not too late. All of us are kind of at the starting point of this race as we come to Hebrews 12.

If we're willing to be coached. Amen? So let's read it first and we'll take some coaching on how to run the race of life and culminate in the most important part which is verse 2.

That it's all about Jesus. We need to look to him. He is the author and finisher. Let's read it. Hebrews chapter 12.

We finally finished chapter 11. That took us a while, didn't it? But it was good.

It was beautiful. Hebrews chapter 12 verses 1 and 2. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

A passage probably all of us who have been in the church for a long time are familiar with. One of the key passages about this race of life.

But notice Hebrews 12 is picking up on the 11th chapter and the 10th chapter.

In chapter 10 verse 19, the book becomes very much application. Before that, it was all doctrinal.

It was about Christ as the better Moses, the better Joshua, the better priest, the better everything.

He's just better. And then in verse 19, we learned what we're to do with that, which was faith, hope, and love.

As we get into chapter 11, we begin to see examples of what it looks like to live this

Christian life. And those who did hold on to the faith, even in heart, summarizing that.

So now look at verse 1. You might look at this a little differently than you've always read it. When I was a kid,

I read this first phrase like this. Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, pause there,

I pictured all of these witnesses in heaven that are watching me on earth.

They're witnessing how I run. I don't think that's the sense of this. The sense of this.

This witness is someone who's testifying. They are witnessing by the very thing they did in chapter 11.

In other words, their life is a witness to us. They're giving testimony to the ones who are running now.

And we go into the text to read what they have to say. So we go back in Genesis.

And Enoch lived his life. Abel lived his life. Abel, who obediently offered a sacrifice, is speaking to us and saying,

Be obedient. Yes, my brother struck me over the head with a rock and I died, but let me tell you about the glory

I saw on the other side. And every obedience in this life is worth it.

So run, Christian, run. That's what Abel is saying. That's his testimony.

Enoch says, you know, I walked with God and then I was no more. He took me.

And I went from glory to glory. So walk with him and run with him, brother.

Noah says, God spoke to me and told me to do something that everybody thought was insane. And I built that boat.

And they mocked me the whole time. But God rescued me on that ark. So run, do what he tells you to do.

Don't worry about what people say. You run. Abraham is saying to us this morning,

God called me out of Ur of the Chaldees and told me to go to a place I had never seen. And having lived with him in tents, waiting on a promise

I never saw, I finally had a son. And then God told me to take my son and sacrifice him on a hill.

And in obedience, I went. But God stopped me there and gave a substitute lamb caught in the thicket.

And it was like life from the dead when I took Isaac down that mountain. And it was worth every moment.

So run, Christian, run. It's worth it. Don't give up.

Sarah, I thought my husband was crazy. I wanted to kill him when he was about to kill my son.

But it worked out. And now I see that the promise pointed to my Christ. Run, Christian, run.

And Isaac and Jacob and Joseph, the patriarchs, each of them learned to believe in the

God of their fathers. They're cheering us on to run. And Moses had to leave the pleasures of Egypt, counting it worthless compared to the treasures of Christ, although he only saw him in a shadow.

And Moses left Egypt and identified with the people of God. And God sent him back, and God brought the people out.

And all of the people testify, we were petrified to go through that Red Sea. The walls of water were intimidating.

But we walked through as on dry land, and we were delivered and set free. So run, Christian, run.

And Rahab says, I was a prostitute. I should have been stoned to death. I should have been killed.

But they spared my life by faith in Yahweh. So you also can be forgiven of anything.

Just look to Christ and run for him. And all of the prophets that came after, the judges,

Gideon and Samson and Barak and Jephthah, testify, run, Christian. And Daniel in the lion's den and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace coming out unscathed are telling us, run.

That is the meaning of the cloud of witnesses. They testify. They still speak.

And that is the first phrase of verse one. Now, the second point. Let us also lay aside every weight.

I've got a buddy. Lives in Florida. And I think he's a little crazy. Because he's going to run a marathon.

Right there. For me, at this stage in my life, I'm not in. 26 miles in Jacksonville.

In Florida, of all places. You don't want to run a marathon there. I actually have done that when I was younger. And I was all cramped up and hobbling and just stumbled my way across the finish line.

In a long period of time. But here's his strategy. He is going to strap to his back in February of 2021, in Jacksonville, I think it is.

A 50 pound pack of weight. And run the 26 miles with that.

Because he wants to set a new world record for carrying military weight gear for 26 miles.

That's his goal. I would choose the author of Hebrews method over his.

Look at it here. Let us also lay aside every weight.

Lay aside every weight. What does the author have in view here? Well, the image is a runner.

He's a cross -country runner. He doesn't want to be wearing heavy sweatpants. And a thick sweater.

And a hat. And the arm sleeve like the basketball player. And all the gear that you put on. No, a good marathon runner.

What does he do? He's down to the short shorts. He's got shoes that don't even have laces.

Nothing to slow him down. He wants to be as streamlined and light as possible.

That's his goal. In the Christian life, there are many things that are not sin to you.

Watching a football game on a Sunday is not sin. And the ladies are saying, well,

I'm not so sure about that. But ladies, watching your home improvement show and real estate show on HGTV, that's not sin.

It's just a pastime. But could it be that some good things are not beneficial?

It says in 1 Corinthians 10, 23. The point will be here that we need to take things in moderation.

And lay aside some things that can be weight to us because it's not helping us to run. To run for the

Great Commission. To go share the gospel with our neighbor. To spend time in the Word. To spend time in prayer. We're so distracted.

The average American spends 145 minutes per day on social media.

Well, it's not sin to scroll through and see what your friends are doing. As the big tech companies tell you what you're allowed to look at.

It's not sin to do that. But is it dead weight that's slowing you down from running for this gospel that we have to preach?

1 Corinthians 10, 23. All things are lawful for me. So this isn't a legalistic kind of message here.

All things are lawful, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful, but not all things build up.

What are the weights in your life that are slowing you down? Things that you could lay aside and run a little faster.

If somebody told me I had to run a marathon, my goal would be to get rid of as much weight as possible.

Because every pound in my body has to go 26 miles.

I have to carry it there. So I want to carry as little excess weight as possible if I have to do that.

Heaven forbid. Next. Also in Hebrews 12, 1, the next phrase.

By the way, when it says, let us also, also refers to the cloud of witnesses.

Like, they did this. They put aside all of the comforts of this life and they went and endured things for the sake of the promise.

So let's also do that. And what's the next one? Sin, which clings so closely.

How many Christians have been derailed by allowing a little sin into their lives?

Sadly, we know about Ravi Zacharias, who preached well for many years, but then because of a back injury began to go to a massage parlor and that turned into sexual sin.

And before long he was entangled in it and now, sadly, an entire ministry discredited because of that behavior.

Or how many people have had a back injury and taken prescription medication to ease the pain, but that turned into abusing it and then other drugs and before long, full -blown addiction.

Sin creeps in. In our text it says, clings so closely.

It's always trying to master you, to have you. Cain and Abel. Cain was told, sin is at your door.

It's crouching at the door. It desires to have you. It wants to overtake you. But you must master it.

We must kill sin. Don't crack the door a little bit. When you begin to crack the door to sin, it begins to move in and invade.

Kind of like athlete's foot for you runners. It just starts between the toes and then it spreads out to other toes and maybe the side of your foot.

Now imagine athlete's foot that didn't stop with your foot, but worked its way up your leg and then took over your entire body.

Now it's affecting all of life. That is a picture of sin and they teach us in seminary to paint vivid images, so you're welcome.

Athlete's foot overtaking the entire body. Well that's what sin does. It clings so closely.

It wants to take over and ultimately to kill you. So you will be killing sin or sin will be killing you.

I did that on purpose because sin is disgusting and yet we allow it.

We make room for it. See it for what it is. Kill it. Next in the text.

What's the next phrase? Let us run with endurance.

That word in the Greek does not mean speed. You would think we're in a foot race.

We would be told run with speed. No, it says run with endurance.

This is not a sprint. This is a marathon. This is a long run from the day that you're born again until you see

Christ in glory. You are in a marathon. You are in a run that requires endurance.

The key to it is that you not stop. When I was a kid, my grandfather was a runner.

Remember the preacher who moved to Guatemala, came back? Well, in his older retirement years in Florida, he was still a runner.

He would come to my house and he would run around our neighborhood before dinner. So the little kids, we would say,

Hey, Grandpa, can we do your run with you? And I still remember lacing up the shoes and running with Grandpa.

And my conclusion was, Man, is he slow. He's so slow.

I just get way out ahead of him. I'm sprinting up the hill. Look back. So finally he catches up.

And then we go around the lake. And I keep looking back and walking, sprinting over the hill back around to 842

Park Court. You guys all still remember where your address is growing up, right? Palm Harbor, Florida.

So we get back to the house. And after all that, I collapse on the driveway, finally pull myself up, go in and drink some of that Sunny D, Sunny Delight, drink the water,

Gatorade, and look back and where's Grandpa? He was only warming up on that first lap.

He won't go any faster, but he was just getting started. He had endurance.

He would run that same lap that wore me out five, six, seven times. Because see, the race does not go to the swift or to the strong, but to the one who endures.

Will you still be running 30 years from now? And on your deathbed, will you still be praising him with joy in your heart?

Set that kind of pace that no matter what happens, you will not quit. The runner will do well who will not stop, even if the pace slows.

There's gonna be times in your life where the pace slows down. I have a friend who was pastoring

FAC around the corner. When he was about my age, in early 40s, he was running hard.

Man, the church was growing, going from building to building, just exploding. But it was wearing him out more than he knew.

And all of a sudden, he contracted something called Epstein Barr. It's kind of like mono, where he was so tired, he couldn't get into the pulpit.

He couldn't preach. And for a couple of years, I think it affected him. But see, even in those moments where he couldn't stand, he couldn't run, he kept praying.

That's what he could do. He kept studying the scripture. He kept going deeper with God. And there came a day when

God said, now run again. And he was back in the pulpit for decades more of faithful ministry.

In that time, it would have been very easy to just say, you know what, I'm passing this thing off. I'm done.

I must not be cut out for the ministry. No, you see, it was endurance that kept him in the race.

When you get hit by a diagnosis, or a condition that your child has, or a dying parent, or a friend that goes unexpectedly, will you give up?

The key is endurance. Listen to Romans 5, 3 and 5. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.

And hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the

Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Next, what is that, fourth now?

Or is this fifth? This is fifth. The race that is set before us.

The runner will do well who stays on track. There is a course that's set for you.

We don't get to blaze our own trails. Anybody here ever run the Broad Street Run in Philadelphia?

It's a 10 -mile run right down Broad Street. Some runners have begun running, but because there's a subway underneath Broad Street, they've run a couple miles, got off, taken the subway half the race, got out, and finished in the front of the pack.

You might feel good about yourself. You could show your trophy. You could tell all your friends about your record -breaking time.

But when you stand before the judge of all the earth, you will not hear, well done, good and faithful servant.

You've been disqualified. You blazed your own trail. You went where you wanted to go, but you did not run according to the map.

This book is the map. Many people in our culture today desire to write their own rules, to form their own map, and just because something feels right to them, they just go with it.

I was horrified to see a little child given over to adoption and winding up in the arms of Pete Buttigieg, who ran for president a number of years ago.

And next to him was his so -called husband. In the picture, the two of them were in hospital gowns and in a hospital bed.

And this baby was given to them for adoption. Now, they may raise the child in a number of good ways.

They might teach him to read and give him phonics before he's two years old. He might be a

Rhodes Scholar. They may help him to feed him and give him all the best clothes and whatnot.

All of these things are possible. But they're not running this race according to what

God has mapped out in His Holy Word. In fact, to put on a hospital gown and sit in a hospital bed is itself a lie.

They didn't give birth. What are they doing in a hospital bed? Why are they wearing a hospital gown?

It is an illusion of virtue. The beautiful pregnancy of a woman and the birth which comes from God as God has formed this child in the womb of a mother is

God's design. And motherhood should be honored. But they're signaling their own virtue in a hospital bed.

It is a lie. And this is a gross and grotesque extreme example of it.

But in our lives, how many things do we make room for because it feels right?

Because it just seems to our conscience to be the right thing. And as long as we're doing other good things, we assume that it's okay.

See, listen, in the text it says, you must run the race that is set before you. That means the parameters are given in God's Holy Word.

It is not ours to make up. We don't just get to run wherever we want, over the hills and through the fields, to grandmother's house we go.

We don't just get to run anywhere. You must run the course to be found faithful.

And that leads now to the final point. Because the course that the

Lord has laid out for us, for each of our lives, the circumstances of our lives, we don't know what those are.

We don't know where we will live, the boundaries of our habitation, where God will take us.

But one thing we do, and if you miss anything else in the sermon today, all of those five points from the first verse are like a running coach giving you advice.

Those things are important. To put off the extra weight, to make sure sin doesn't overtake, to stay on track, to run with endurance, to look back to the runners who have done it before, like Coach Mike, who was almost in the

Olympics. You can see his example. These are all good things, but without this last thing, this main thing, we have nothing.

The main thing is in this race you must keep your eyes on Jesus. We run to him, and he is our destination, and he is the ultimate example.

Every one of the saints in Hebrews 11 would take off their crown and throw it at his feet.

You see, Abraham almost gave his wife away and did give her into adultery to protect his own life.

He was a sinner like us. And Moses killed a man. And David slept with Bathsheba.

And Samson was a mess. And Jephthah, I think, was worse. The sins that were covered by the blood were not present in Christ himself.

These were sinners like us. But Christ, he is on a whole other level. So what we're seeing here in verse 2 is the culmination of chapter 11.

These who ran before us, they're a great example. But don't miss where this is all headed. It's headed to the better than.

The ultimate example. The one runner who pierced the heart of darkness and broke through the veil of sin and entered into the

Holy of Holies. Jesus Christ our Lord. He went through the cross, endured that shame, laid down in the grave, conquered it, rose and sat down at the right hand of his

Father. He opened a new and living way for us by his blood.

Let's read it. Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

You gotta keep your eyes on him. You have to be Christ -centered. There are many distractions in this life, but Christ must be your aim and your goal.

You have to think about him every day. Don't forget what he's done for you. Don't let your love grow cold, but remember your first love by thinking about Jesus.

Never forget what he has done. Look to him. Next it says the founder, the archagon, the architect, the one who initiated our faith.

Where did your faith come from in the first place? Were you more humble than your neighbor that you became a

Christian? Or was it that God himself sent the gospel to you and his spirit drew you and you believed and your faith in Christ was born?

He is the architect, the founder of your faith. But good news, born -again

Christian, he is also the perfecter of your faith.

He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.

You, having heard the word of truth, were marked in him with a seal, the promised

Holy Spirit, who is a guarantee of your redemption until all of those who take possession of it.

What am I saying? You're called to run. I'm called to run.

But if it were up to me to keep running faithfully to heaven, I would trip,

I would stumble, I would fall. You would find me in the ditch. But he is the one who's running through you.

If any man is in Christ, he is a new creation. Behold, the old things are gone, the new things have come.

Christ will run in you. He is the hope of glory, Christ in you.

Keep your eyes on him and understand this, it is Christ who's running in you.

He's bringing you to the promised land. You're not running alone. How many here, you don't have to raise your hand, maybe you can just give a little moan if this applies to you, are feeling weary in this run?

You're feeling like it's beating you down. You'll never make it. How can you hold on faithful to the end?

The temptations are too strong. The distractions are too many. It's too hard to run the

Christian life. Too much pain and suffering. If you're weary, hear the words of Isaiah chapter 40.

Isaiah 40 verses 28 to 31. You can turn there with me if you're fast, otherwise you might just want to listen.

I get going and then I don't give you enough time to get there. Isaiah 40, 28 to 31.

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting

God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary.

His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint and to him who has no might, he increases strength.

Pause right there. All of us will grow weary and faint when we take that hit that seems insurmountable, that loss of a loved one, the pain of this life, but it's he who increases strength.

The battle is not to the strong, but to those who have faith in Christ. It is not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, says the

Lord of hosts. It's Christ in you that will bring you across this line. Keep looking. Even youths shall faint and be weary and young men shall fall exhausted, but they who wait for the

Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles.

They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint.

The Christian walk, the Christian run, is a supernatural run.

He is with us. He promised to never leave or forsake us. He's with us from the beginning to the end and then for all eternity.

So I will be with them always. He promised this to us. So let's conclude.

Can I speak to you all like my dad spoke to me? Many of you are as old as my father, so maybe

I'm speaking to the young men here. But when I was a college basketball player,

I finished at age 22, came home, and we were having a meal.

It's probably the meal that I was eating that prompted my dad to say to me what he said. I was probably eating like an alligator or something.

But he looked at me and he said, Jeff, I want to tell you something. You're at a critical point right now.

He told me about how he was a basketball player in college and all of his teammates, and most of them, when they stopped playing, all of a sudden, ballooned.

And he said, you're used to eating like a college basketball player. You can eat 4 ,000 calories a day.

But starting now, you're either going to have to add some exercise to your life now that you don't play basketball anymore, or you're going to need to cut your diet like in half.

Some of the best advice I ever got. Because on that day, I took up running. And for 21 years now,

I've been a runner. Because I didn't want to stop eating. That option was kind of like off the table. I can't cut down my intake, so I guess

I'm going to have to become a runner. That's when I started doing marathons and stuff like that, which is a far cry from what

I do now. But I've kept it up, you know, just a few miles a day kind of thing. And that advice was huge for me.

As a father figure, as a pastor in your lives, can I tell you, you need to get rid of the extra weight.

And I'm not talking physically now. I'm talking about the amount of time you spend on Facebook, the amount of time you devote to football.

Watch a football game, but don't watch every football game. And the college games. We are in a race.

And here's the thing of it. You can make a decision that is really harmless.

It's just, you know, I'm going to have a soda with dinner tonight. And that does little damage.

But what it does is it creates the habits of your life. When my father gave me that advice, running just became a habit of my life.

And it's been good for me in a lot of ways, mental health and just dealing with stress and physically and even spiritually, because that's the time that I pray.

And I go over my sermon in my head and I quote scriptures. It's just good. It's a habit.

What habits will you build in your life? What about time in the word?

Will it become a daily habit? If it will, and you'll carry that through your life, you will be blessed like a stream by the water, like a tree by the stream, not a stream by the water, a tree by the water.

You'll bear fruit, build those habits, put off the weight.

And are you playing with sin? Listen, it's nothing to toy with.

It can overtake your life. It can kill your faith. How many apostates?

And you know, as I've looked at the famous apostates, people that were once Christians and now they have turned away from Christianity, you can trace almost all of them to sexual sin.

If you're allowing sin into your life, know this, it desires to master you.

You must kill it before it kills you. But you don't have to do that alone.

In James 5, it says, confess your sins to a brother so that you may be healed.

Go to an elder in your church. Go to a man that you trust. Go to a woman, ladies, that you trust.

Tell them what you're struggling with. Ask them to pray with you. They're not there to judge you. They'll help you deal with it.

They will help you to deal with it. We're in a race.

We've got to kill sin. We've got to put off the extra weight. We've got to stay in the book and run according to the rule.

But most of all, what is it? Keep your eyes on Jesus. Jesus in the morning,

Jesus at the noontime, Jesus when the sun goes down. I think that was

David Crowder, right? This new song. It's got to be all about Jesus.

Centered on him every day. If you keep your eyes there, just run towards him. He'll show you the way.

That's the course that you've got to run. Jesus. Eyes on him, running at him. Eventually, when it's your day to leave this life, you go face to face with the one you've been running to.

So run to Jesus. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much for your word to us this morning.

We are disciplined by it. I pray now that you would speak to every heart of every person in this room and outside and watching online.

I pray that you would show us the weight, the extra weight that's slowing our run, that's holding us down.

I ask, Lord, that you would reveal those things and now help us, Lord, to put it aside. We can't put it all away at once, but to focus on something to get out of our life, to build a good habit in.

Lord, we pray that you would help us to kill sin with the help of a brother or a sister.

Most of all, Lord, we pray that this church would be all about Jesus, him crucified, him risen, him ascended, and him seated at the right hand of the

Father. He's seated there because his work is finished.

His work on our behalf is finished. Our sin is atoned for. And now we can go where the forerunner went.

We thank you for the new and living way, so help us to run on it in Jesus' name.

Amen. Let's stand and sing. He is made for your grief

In his excellent work What more can he say

Than to you he has said To you, to Jesus, I pray

I'll still give my strength

And I'll build my mountain high

And send through my days all submission

Shall be your supply The flame, the soul

That on Jesus has leaned for repose I'm reserved

And so though all hell Should I never say

We need to hear Isaiah 40 again for our close. Have you not known, have you not heard

The Lord is the everlasting God The creator of the ends of the earth

He does not faint or grow weary His understanding is unsearchable

He gives power to the faint And to him who has no might he increases strength

Even youths shall faint and be weary And young men shall fall exhausted

But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength They shall mount up with wings like eagles

They shall run and not be weary They shall walk and not faint

So go in peace and before you do remember There are sandwiches in the classroom on the left

So if you would like to grab sandwich and water and hang out We have some tables set up out front

And these are what we're calling a ministry fair So if you've ever thought about maybe serving

With the youth or with the kids Or in some kind of being in a community group

Or maybe helping to set up those black chairs out there For the people who will be sitting out there more and more in the fall

As the weather gets nicer and nicer We'll have more and more people Maybe you want to help set up those chairs Before first service

We need lots of help and things like that And there is a ministry fair out there To let you know ways that you can serve

Did everybody get a paper to fill out? If you didn't get one of those they're probably on the back table Do you guys see, is there papers there?

Thank you You can do that, fill it out Maybe you have a special skill that would be a blessing to the church

So today is the day that we encourage everybody To get involved in some kind of service